


This is going to tear the world apart

by Bridthesin



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Maxson is a beast, Pregnancy, Shameless Smut, Spoilers, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:15:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 66,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6016134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bridthesin/pseuds/Bridthesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorelai Thomson isn't just quiet, she's watching. Usually she understands everyone pretty quickly, they don't always know it but they leave little telltale signs everywhere and Lorelai is the type to notice.</p><p>After stumbling through the wasteland a knight in shining armor offers her a place in his army so she jumps at the chance just to get a clean shower. That's when she meets a man who keeps surprising her, which has never happened before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Maxson Met Lorelai

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a lot of this as just dabble but realised I had started to write a lot of it in order and it was almost developing into a full blown story so what the hell... here it is as a full length fic... enjoy!
> 
> I'll be adding tags as I go along.

          She had spent the last two months scared out of her wits, everything was trying to kill her, even the small amount of food she’d managed to find out there. So obviously when her handsome knight in shining armour had offered her a place in his army she jumped at the opportunity to be properly armed and… well have a shower. Now she wasn’t so sure. She’d been welcomed aboard and quickly ushered into some sort of meeting, a row of stiff backed people stood either side of the room watching a broad man in a big coat speek.

          Her family, her dead husband Nate and even her friends thought she was quiet, told her to stand up for herself more, talk back and give the world what was coming to them. The truth was she wasn’t quiet because she was shy, she just watched the world with keen eyes that took in every detail and read into people’s souls easily and quickly. She knew this man before her, Nate had been in the army and many of his friends were what she termed ‘child soldiers’ in their instance they weren’t put to war as children but were brought up on a steady diet of hero worship and war films, copies of guns and ammo hidden under their beds. This man was one of them, he lived and breathed war and the army was his life, maybe he had even literally been a child soldier, she didn’t know this world very well and could easily assume that children here were brought up to fight.

          Worse still this man was a king, he had come to know that everyone would scurry away to do his bidding, he owned his world and let others know it, she imagined he hadn’t heard the word 'no' in his life. After one lifetime among soldiers she had grown to hate these kinds of men, prideful and stoic they would bring whole worlds crashing down to hold on to their precious pride.

  
          As he spoke his eyes met hers, one look at her and his gaze turned to anger. She noted quickly that the others in the room avoided direct eye contact with him, it was a base animal instinct, averting the eyes from the Alpha. But not her, she looked at him with her curious green eyes the same way as she would anyone, summing him up and finding him wanting. The simple, sweet soldier who had rescued her, Danse his name was, walked towards this boy king as soon as the address was finished, she thought it best to follow but stood a little behind the Paladin (apparently the rank that Danse held),  
          “Elder Maxson Sir, may I present Lorelai Thomson” Danse saluted to the man, who watched her, his blue cat like eyes ready to devour her at a misplaced step, she’d like to see him try. He seemed to be summing her up and his face changed almost imperceptibly when he came to whatever conclusion was to be had,  
          “Paladin Danse, I read your glowing report on Miss Thomson here and intend to reward her the rank of Knight on your recommendation, this rank comes with a set of power armour, wear it with pride Knight Thomson” he saluted her and she just looked at him, not a muscle on her face moved “Paladin Danse will be your sponsor and therefore your mentor, he is a great soldier and should be a great teacher. Ad victoriam”  
          “Thank you sir” she spoke and noticed his eyes widen just the tiniest amount at her voice, he saluted and dismissed them with instructions to introduce her to the ship and crew.

 -------------------

          She was dying to peel the stinking vault suit from herself and get a good wash but there wasn’t time for that before Paladin Danse rushed her around the ship pointing out things as he went. Lorelai followed in silence, memorising the layout for future reference. Her observant eye caught little details about each of the people she met though she did not know who the hell they were. Proctor Quinlain liked comics, she saw scraps of pages sticking out amongst the other papers in his room. He also had a cat that wasn’t his but had chosen that palace to call it’s own, it had no collar or bed there and showed an ownership she knew had come from it’s own choosing. She liked cats, they were observant like her and quiet, always ready for the next danger.

          Cade was a doctor, he asked her strange questions and he took his work very seriously she supposed he didn’t have time for much else and his room was sparse, only the essentials for his craft laid around. Still he was kind and spoke to her warmly, she smiled at him as she answered yes and no to his questions after careful consideration.

          Proctor Ingram was nice if a little overwhelmed, she got the impression that the woman had once been bubbly and energetic which at some point in her life had given way to a sort of restless moodiness. Lorelai didn’t know how but at some point she had lost her legs, now held up by a power armour frame.

          Proctor Teegan (all of them Proctors, she’d have to ask what that meant) was terse, he had a moodiness about being locked in a cage and his misdirected anger fell on anyone too close to him, he did have a sense of humour about him though that made up for the outbursts.

  
          Finally Lorelai had the opportunity to shower, she ripped the thick fabric of her suit away from her skin as soon as she was able and dived into the trickle of warm water, it wasn’t the best shower of her life but it was definitely the most anticipated. As she used a plain bar of soap to lather her long black hair and run along her wet body she heard the door open and a man shouting to those outside, she hadn’t realised it was a coed shower until that point. Well that would take some getting used to, she rinsed herself off, dressed in an old man's shirt and a pair of shorts and made her way to bed ready for the next day and her briefing with Maxson.

          By this point she had assumed the child king hated her because she didn’t look at him as top dog but just as another man with an incurable ego so she wasn’t looking forward to seeing him. Still she had a warm bed, access to showers and food easily available, she could have done a lot worse.

 --------------

          Maxson was waiting for them on the vertibird deck, another place where he could easily survey his kingdom. He pointed them at an outcrop of land below and instructed them to find mini nukes and kill all the mutants all the while he stared at her with those bright blue eyes, willing her to look away but she gave him no quarter and just held his gaze.

          The island was difficult to clear but with her power armour and a new laser rifle, a gift from Danse, they managed in the end, found the bombs (ugly little squat things, thousands of them packed into boxes). Danse stayed behind to supervise their removal, letting her return to the Prydwen and Maxson alone.

          Lorelai found the Elder stood in the big room with a wall of windows, the same place she had met him, she cocked her head to the side and wondered what he must be thinking as he looked down on the world below. He seemed to notice her presence, she assumed her reflection had shown in the window, and he turned to greet her. Somehow his face seemed softer now they were alone, perhaps he didn’t feel as threatened as she first thought,  
          “Was the mission a success Knight?”  
          “Yes sir”  
          “Any injuries?”  
          “No sir”  
          “Good, and the arsenal is Danse with it?”  
          “Yes sir” he seemed to be growing angrier with every answer  
          “And how did you find your first mission”  
          “Fine sir” his teeth gritted together and he stared her down, his eyes burning into hers  
          “Dismissed” she had expected… more… a lecture, telling off perhaps, his anger was plain to see and she had expected something to come of it but… nothing.

          She slinked off to find a quiet spot, she had gone from being alone and scared to being constantly surrounded by people and it was a big change. She stalked the ship, pacing up stairs and down corridors until she got to the top most floor and the very front of the ship where a mysterious door invited her to open it. Outside was some sort of bow, a long thin platform, rails either side and offering glorious views of the city below. She sighed, it was perfect and she lowered herself so that her legs dangled off the edge and her chin rested on the rail, her hair catching in the wind. She returned to that very spot repeatedly, every time she needed a moment alone, she could sit for hours and watch the little dots move below knowing they were likely people or animals that would kill her in a second but they couldn’t hurt her up here.

          One quiet afternoon she was sat watching the sun lowering in the sky and humming a tune she had loved, lost to the world now, clair de lune, it had been her favourite classical piece once upon a time. It was one of few bittersweet perfect moments that were hard to find in this desolate place, the door creaked behind her and halted her humming,  
          “Don’t stop, it was beautiful” a familiar voice sounded behind her, she turned and saw Maxson stood there, “what was it?”  
          “Clair de lune by Debussy, my favourite classical song before the war, of course it’s gone now” she said as she watched him move closer to her spot at the very tip of the long spike,  
          “Do you know that’s the longest sentence you’ve ever said to me” she blushed, she hadn’t realised that, she was so used to not talking and just taking in everyone else's words, “I listen to the classical music channel sometimes myself”  
          “You do?” she hadn’t put this man down as the type to listen to anything other than his own voice so this revelation surprised her  
          “It, calms me” she smiled and watched his eyes roam around the ground before them, for once not staring challengingly into her own, almost baiting her, “you know this is my favourite spot on the ship”  
          “Mine too” she had never seen him here but perhaps he came when she wasn’t there  
          “So few moments of peace” she didn’t say anything to this, just motioned to the spot beside her, he joined her there and they sat in silence for some time watching the world below. She hadn’t ever pictured this man to sit with his legs dangling and his usual straight posture relaxed, she wanted to ask him something but didn’t entirely know what, suddenly she found herself wanting to know all about his past,  
          “Elder”  
          “Call me Maxson in situations such as this”  
          “I’ve heard other soldiers talking about the Maxson line, what is that?”  
          “My ancestor, Roger Maxson, he founded the brotherhood and it has flourished under a Maxson rule every time one has been the Elder” he sighed almost sadly “I am the last Maxson, the last of my great line”  
          “That sounds… horrible”  
          “For a long time I thought it must be but now I am Elder I must hold my head high and keep the Maxson name alive… I have to go” rather brusquely he stood up and Lorelai was left wondering what she had said wrong, she had pried too much into this closed man’s past and left him angry… again.

 ---------------

          A month later and her and Danse had grown quite close in their long hikes around the Commonwealth, she liked him he spoke his mind and she could tell exactly what he was thinking. He was a straightforward man of simple tastes and reminded her of Nate, now she didn’t know if she had ever loved her husband really. She had had brief love affairs with men who were all fire and ice and made her excited but they had all ended in disaster and none had been able to give her the security and safety she longed for and at the same time the excitement she craved. Nate had been her friend for so long, when he asked her to marry him she accepted, trading a life of excitement and speed for a slow, steady, secure one into which Shaun had been a joyus surprise for him and a cause for constant vigilance from her.

          Back aboard the Prydwin she had to hold herself back from running to the showers straight away, they had to see Lancer Captain Kells to brief him on their mission. the Captain told her that Maxson had requested her presence in his quarters at her earliest convenience, she had just nodded and saluted him. Once moving again she turned to Danse,  
          “Is that… normal?” she asked him  
          “The Elder wanting to meet in his quarters, yes, it usually means it’s a less formal affair, expect to be offered something to drink but don’t drink too much. It’s something he does often to learn more about those on board, there will likely be a few other new recruits too. Knight Thomson I know you don’t think much of the Elder but he is a good leader, he likes to know each of those under his command”  
          “Oh, I didn’t know” she felt slightly ashamed to think she had thought him a bratty boy king once, although from what she had seen so far that was what he was. Well apart form the briefest of moments when she’d caught a glimpse of the man behind all of his airs.  
          “I’ll let you go shower, I know you’ve been dieing for one”  
          “Thank you Danse” she ran off in that direction excitedly.

 ---------------

          Lorelai showered and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans she’d bought from a settlement to wear when off duty. Before putting it on at that moment she hadn’t realised the t-shirt was slightly see through, showing a hint of the shape of her bra underneath. It was all she had now that she had sent her brotherhood uniform and her vault suit to be washed so she just had to make do.

          Heading to Maxson’s quarters she got a few funny looks, she assumed for the top and her wet hair. Knocking on the metal door she heard shuffling and furniture move inside before the door was pulled open, Maxson stood there and looked her up and down, his eyes resting unashamedly on her breasts. She got sudden reservations about entering his room but he moved aside and she couldn’t think of an excuse to decline, she became more nervous when she saw two glasses sat on the table in an empty room, one full, one not,  
          “Am I the first?” she asked, turning back at her elder, he was very close turning to look at her as he closed the door and towering over her tiny stature,  
          “Excuse me?” he sounded at least a little annoyed by her question,  
          “To arrive I mean” she had expected this to clarify things, but it seemed it didn’t, she continued to explain “Danse told me you often invite a few new recruits, to get to know them”  
          “Yes, I do, but this time it’s just me and you” she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of that at all, the gruff, angry young man in front of her was not exactly someone she wanted to be alone in a locked room with. She regarded him with her calculating, curious eyes and he stared back at her, equally curious,  
          “Why?” she said finally, breaking the silence and the eye contact to pour herself a glass and sit down. He joined her, picking up his own drink as he sat,  
          “I wanted to… see you again after I left so suddenly last time we were… alone together” short pauses in his speech, he was figuring out what to say as he went along, all of his speech was rehearsed normally so this was… new,  
          “Well, you can see me”  
          “Yes, I can… was there anything else you wanted to ask me then” she took a sip of the drink, it was strong and peaty and burned in her chest warmly,  
          “Yes, your family, what happened to them” he looked shocked, as though he had expected her to take her time before asking,  
          “Very forward of you, getting straight to the point, I like that. I was an only child, my father died, my mother sent me to DC to learn the ways of the brotherhood then she died too” he was emotionless as he told her the facts about his loss but she wanted to know the truth behind those facts,  
          “How did that make you feel?”  
          “I don’t know how to answer that”  
          “Oh, you don’t have to”  
          “No I mean, I don’t remember, I was a soft child and had to become strong so I forgot all those feelings of loss”  
          “That’s horrible”  
          “You keep saying that, I think I’m lucky to be a Maxson, to have such a proud lineage and a bright future ahead of me. All of these people look to me for leadership and I am strong enough to lead them, I have pride in what I do and the people I lead”  
          “That sounds rehearsed”  
          “It isn’t and if you wish to dig further into my personal life you may leave”  
          “You asked if there was anything I wanted to know”  
          “I didn’t expect this”  
          “A soldier should always be prepared”  
          “You are an infuriating woman, what happened to being quiet and shy now you have an answer for everything I say?”  
          “I’m not shy”  
          “Then what are you?”  
          “Watching” she’d never told anyone that, no one at all, she let people go on thinking she was shy because that was what suited her best. Maxson’s reaction to this was confusion, she didn’t really know how to begin to explain what she meant,  
          “You watch me?” the question surprised her and Lorelai took a moment to think about it,  
          “Yes” she was about to add that she watches everyone but that was when she realised that the whole time she had been aboard the ship everyone else’s life, their likes and dislikes had been laid out in front of her. His hadn’t, she kept finding new things and turning out to be wrong about others so yes, she had been watching him and paying him special attention even though she hadn’t realised it. He was staring at her, looking deep into her eyes again,  
          “I have to go” Lorelai stood to leave and felt a hand on her shoulder turning her around roughly, Maxson pushed her against the door and kissed her, his lips pushing into hers and his tongue pushing them apart to gently run along her top lip. She felt wobbly, light headed, she didn’t know what to do but her body acted on it’s own, pushing into him and biting his bottom lip before meeting his open mouth again.

          Their kiss went on, both of them fighting for dominance over the other until he reached for her top and started to lift the hem up over her stomach. Panic set in and she pushed his hands away, he moved back from her and looked into her eyes confused by her sudden reluctance. She just pulled open the door and ran off into the ship and lost herself in the sounds and business of the living breathing thing, she headed straight for the only place she knew she would be left alone. The wind up there was biting through her thin clothes, her still wet hair moved a little as the strong gusts tried to blow it about, she shivered and held her arms around herself and started to hum Chopin songs to scare away the filthy thoughts running about in her head, thoughts of him lifting her like a doll and his heavy body on top of hers and all the passion of that kiss spilling into her.


	2. Is That A Date?

          The ship hummed under her as she lay sleepless in her bed, she found the dim and distant noise of the engines comforting though she couldn’t explain why. In her mind she checked off a list of everything she knew about the crew, she had recently found out how Ingram had lost her legs falling from a great height in power armour. Teegan had relaxed around her a little more and his sense of humour had grown far darker and his angry outbursts at her less frequent, so he was slow to trust then. Maxson was the last of his line, he had pushed his feelings deep down and he had kissed her.

          She sighed, Lorelai didn’t want to play that game anymore, usually it helped her to remember all these little facts and would lull her to sleep. Now she lay restlessly staring at the ceiling above her and every time she played it would drift back to the feel of his body against hers, the light scrape of his beard against her face, his full lips, his tongue. She felt too warm, too tired and jumped out of bed making a loud enough noise to cause a break in the snores around her. Pausing she breathed for a few beats and walked on soft, quiet feet towards her favourite spot which she now knew to call the forecastle.

  
          As usual the wind was bracing and Lorelai wished she was wearing more then just her short cotton nightie that blew about her. The cold was exactly what she had wanted though and as it ran over her bare skin it felt like little bug bites, distracting her from her thoughts. She looked out over the commonwealth, the old stadium was lit up brightly against the almost black backdrop, she had heard that it was called diamond city now, a settlement. Bright green eyes wandered towards a glow on the horizon, it was beautiful like pictures she had once seen of the aurora borealis but in shades of green rather than a rainbow of colours. After starting for some time she heard a noise behind her and chuckled to herself, of course he's here, just her luck,  
          “What's that?” she said nodding her head towards the dim light without even turning around, smiling at the gasp that he inevitably tried to hide in a cough,  
          “What exactly is what Knight?” the gruff voice said, growing louder as he came closer,  
          “The green in the distance” she felt his presence behind her, not close enough to touch but solid, like an old oak,  
          “That is the glowing sea, it's where the bombs dropped, a highly irradiated hell hole, I would not recommend a visit” a sound almost like a laugh but much briefer and she felt his breath on her hair… he had made a joke… sort of,  
          “Strange how something so awful can create something so beautiful”  
          “You think it's beautiful?” Maxson didn't sound as though he agreed,  
          “Yes, it's… effervescent… other worldly.... like a trail left by spirits” she finally turned to look at him, he seemed to be trying to sum her up as he gazed at her. Well until his eyes landed on her chest and her nipples pert with cold, her skin goose pimpled,  
          “That is not appropriate attire for a brotherhood soldier” he said, drawing his eyes back up and staring blankly ahead of him, his lips pursed in a scowl. She laughed at him and watched his eyes widen but still refuse to look at her,  
          “So serious Maxson, it's not like I wear this for missions, I sleep in it” Lorelai teased, he pulled in a deep sigh as she continued to laugh,  
          “You sleep in a co-ed bunk room with other people and you wear that?” he still seemed so mad at her,  
          “Yes” if she was being honest she was enjoying the opportunity to stare at his face so close to hers while he refused to look at her. From here every worry line and little scar on his skin stood out, the big one down the right of his face was smoother than she had expected, the scar tissue soft with little bumps down either side from the stitches. He was very handsome in a rugged, manly way, like a lion or a bear and she regarded and memorised every curve, line and divot he was too young to have. After the longest pause he spoke up again,  
          “So you are happy for other people to see you in this… attire” Maxson was stiff, his back straight like he was fighting an inner urge that threatened to take over,  
          “Yes”  
          “Has… Danse seen you like this?”  
          “No” he seemed to relax, a slight deflation at that answer… so that was it, jealousy. Lorelai allowed the corners of her mouth to curl into a smile, she could have fun with this, “the boys in the sleeping quarters like it though, especially when I kick the covers of in the night” she said matter of factly, he coughed, well more a spluttering choke really,  
          “Em… ah… do they… tell you that?”  
          “A lot” she was grinning now, and he cleared his throat and let his eyes drop to hers for a second, a mere blink but enough to see her smiling at him,  
          “Oh… you're joking?”  
          “Yes sir” she gave a little shiver as she said that and his back went rigid but his eyes returned to hers,  
          “You must be cold” it wasn’t a question, more an unsure statement but he didn't hesitate to remove his coat and put it over her shoulders. It was still warm from him and as big as a sleeping bag on her,  
          “Thank you” she said, snuggling against the wool lining that smelt of him, a warm musky scent that made her feel at home,  
          “Would you care to join me in my quarters for a drink?” he asked awkwardly, she was intrigued by this side of him, caring and shy where he usually had such strength,  
          “A young knight in your quarters in the middle of the night, I don't want rumors spreading about me Elder” she smiled warmly at him and wriggled out of the coat handing it back to him, having to take pains to squeeze past him and back through the door.

 ---------------

          “DANSE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Ingram shouted across the armor hangar and Lorelai looked up to see him struggling to right the armor he had been working on as it swung from one chain, half of one leg missing. Laughing she ran over to help him, managing to clip the second chain as he lifted,  
          “You're a klutz” she said punching him in the shoulder and having to stand on her tiptoes to do it,  
          “You're short” he retorted weakly,  
          “Is that any way to talk to a lady Paladin?” Maxsons voice boomed as he entered the room,  
          “Maxson” Lorelai said, jumping at the sudden intrusion  
          “Elder Maxson to you” Danse scolded her, a stern look on his handsome face, she just rolled her eyes at him before turning to the Elder,  
          “Elder Maxson Sir” she shouted dramatically like a drill sergeant,  
          “Knight Thomson, Paladin Danse I would like to request that you join me for some… I think, Knight Thomson you would think of it as shore leave. I intend to make a trip to Diamond City and I understand you have never been there Knight”  
          “When?” she asked plainly causing everyone in the room to go silent and stare at her, she looked about her trying not to let her confusion show,  
          “Tomorrow Knight, we will set off at lunchtime… that is if you accept” he looked at her, staring into her eyes, almost daring her to say no,  
          “Is this a date with Danse as chaperone?” an audible gasp reverberated around the room at her cheek,  
          “No, Danse is a friend, he is your mentor, it is only polite”  
          “In that case no, you two enjoy an afternoon on the town I wouldn't want to get in your way just for the sake of politeness… anyway I have plans for my own ‘shore leave’ as you put it”  
          “And those plans are?” Maxson raised an eyebrow at her questioningly,  
          “I've heard a lot of talk about Goodneighbour, now that I'm more capable I thought I might check it out” he looked annoyed at this,his big eyebrows drawing together “in fact you can drop me off on your way if you like?”  
          “Goodneighbour does not have the friendliest reputation” the Elder warned her,  
          “All the more exciting I think”  
          “Well if you have your mind set, Danse I assume you will accompany me to diamond city?”  
          “Yes sir” the big fool saluted and Maxson nodded to her and turned and walked back out. As soon as his broad shoulders were out of sight Danse grabbed her and pulled her around the corner to a less observed spot,  
          “What are you doing?” he whispered frantically “you refuse an offer from the Elder and even goad him into some kind of reaction?”  
          “Relax, it's not like he can order me to spend time with him”  
          “He is a very busy man and very important, if he chooses to spend what little free time he has with you… jump at the chance Lorelai” she shook her head at him and went back to fixing her power armour, refusing to talk about it again.


	3. When Hancock Met Lorelai

          The next day she was dropped off not far from goodneighbour, her vault suit and ratty old armor strapped back on. She pushed open the gate, not sure what she would find on the other side, from what she had heard she expected there to be dead bodies in the gutter and people injecting chems everywhere. Actually it looked like a normal street, not normal for her old life but still not what she'd call a den of iniquity. People milled about, someone swept up imaginary mess to look busy, two shops were doing a steady trade and a shady looking man was stood in front of her. Lorelai sighed inwardly and stepped forwards, ready for whatever crap this balding leather clad man with a knife he wrongly thought was concealed in his boot was going to try to sell her,  
          “First time in goodneighbour? Can't go walking around without insurance” she regarded him coldly for a while, he clearly wasn’t the most intelligent man in town (or maybe he was), he had decided to use intimidation to earn his keep and he wasn't all that intimidating,  
          “No” she said plainly, watching his face screw up in confusion,  
          “Wait… no you're not paying me or no I'm clearly right?”  
          “No, go away” he thought about this, clearly it wasn’t something that happened all too often,  
          “Look just give me everything you're carrying or things start to get real messy” he had finally bounced back by stumbling into his usual rehearsed speech.

          She had caught the other man out of the corner of her eye, the bright red coat wasn’t hard to spot, he had been talking to a woman who leaned nonchalantly against a wall as the red coated man approached. There was a swagger in his walk that she was not fooled by, thus would have been the type she would have dated back before Nate, all confidence and tough talk but would run the second they caught feelings or let the facade slip,  
          “Finn I thought I told you to cut the extortion crap” he stepped into the light and she saw his face for the first time, that's a ghoul then, she had been warned about them by young knights who had woken up with more than a hangover. Honestly Lorelai didn't entirely believe it, she knew the Brotherhood propagated a lot of lies about what they called ‘abominations’ and she idly wondered how many of them Maxson knew about,  
          “What do you care Hancock, she ain't one of us” the thug called Finn growled out, Lorelai wondered how far he would take this argument, the ghoul was clearly dangerous the men and boys she had known pre war would have beaten someone senseless for giving them lip and that was before these bloody, violent times,  
          “No love for your Mayor Finn?” the ghoul named Hancock smiled, Mayor, that was interesting,  
          “You're going soft Hancock, if you keep letting outsiders walk all over us soon they'll be a new Mayor in town” she pulled in a sharp breath, that was a mistake,  
          “Come on you know me Finn” the ghoul reached an arm out companionably to the thug “here, let me tell you something”  
          Two swift stabs to the gut and the man fell convulsing to the floor, blood seeping quickly from his torso. Hancock leaned over him,  
          “Now what you gotta say that for, breaking my heart over here” the thug tugged in his last breath and the corner of the ghouls mouth creased in a sick smile. His black eyes flicked up at her, they were all black and she found herself fascinated by them holding his stare as he walked towards her wiping the blood from his knife,  
          “You ok sister?” he asked, not breaking the eye contact for a second,  
          “Thank you” he looked a little concerned, his face expressive despite the scars, or maybe because of them. She wanted to touch him, know what that skin felt like, she understood the strange fascination some new recruits had with ghouls now,  
          “Sure you're ok?”  
          “Yes”  
          “Don’t say much do you?”  
          “No” she watched him laugh and take it all in his stride, at this point in the conversation Maxson would be bearing down on her a passion in his eyes and she wouldn't know if he wanted to kiss her or punch her, perhaps he didn’t know. This oddly dressed ghoul just laughed and carried on talking,  
          “This here's Goodneighbour and I'm Mayor Hancock, anyone's welcome here, Goodneighbour's of the people for the people, ya feel me?” she simply nodded and Hancock's expressive face screwed up before he laughed hoarsely again, “yea, you'll get on ok sister, just so long as you remember who's in charge”  
          Lorelai watched his back disappear into a big old building that she vaguely remembered from her school history lessons. Standing for a moment she allowed herself a brief smile guessing that the boys wouldn’t be having this much fun in Diamond City before she set off to explore.

 ---------------

          A squire ran up behind her as she lowered herself from the Vertibird, apparently Maxson had requested she go straight to his quarters as soon as she arrives. Lorelai sighed and looked down at her dusty clothes, she really wanted to go shower and change but decided it was not a good idea to push things with the Elder. She knocked on his door and when he opened it she was shocked to see him dressed casually in dark camouflage combat pants and a vest top that showed off his honed physique, she tried not to stare but it really wasn't working. He followed her eyes to what she was looking at and realisation dawned,  
          “It’s my day off knight, I am capable of dressing casually” she smiled and he moved aside to let her in without saying anything more. Once she had sat he offered her a slug of whiskey and she took it gratefully, being back in the room where he had kissed her had her stomach doing somersaults, “I wanted to ask how your trip to Goodneighbour was”  
          “Are you asking me to spy for you?”  
          “No, I wanted to make sure you are safe after your… exposure to those types”  
          “You mean Ghouls?”  
          “Will you just answer the question”  
          “You haven't asked one” she could see him mentally thinking back over the conversation then admitting defeat with a brief sag of his shoulders,  
          “Fine… are you ok?”  
          “I am thank you for asking”  
          “And would you care to go into more detail?” he was already getting exasperated but when he saw warmth in her eyes he softened,  
          “I met the Mayor… you wouldn’t like him I'm afraid, he's a ghoul and he stabbed a guy for me, well a thug”  
          “And you're ok?” she nodded and smiled at his concern “he stabbed a guy… I have an army” Maxson mumbled a little childishly,  
          “Are you playing my dicks bigger than your dick or are you actually suggesting I use an army to defend me from one thug?”  
          “My dick probably is bigger” Maxson winked at her and she burst out laughing from the shock, his face dropped,  
          “Why are you laughing, Lorelai have you seen his… ehem…”  
          “Oh god no… he stabbed a guy, told me to remember who's in charge then vanished… you just caught me off guard is all” she spluttered out between laughs, he was cute in the rare moments he was insecure. She finished her drink and stood,  
          “Where are you going?” he asked standing as well almost like a reflex action,  
          “Well I assumed you were finished, you don’t want me to take up more of your precious time off do you?”  
          “I had hoped you might eat with me”  
          “Oh… em… ok” she sat back down, not entirely sure how it works when the Elder wants to dine, did they go to the mess hall? would someone bring something? Would she have to go get them something?  
          “Someone from the kitchen is bringing something here” he told her as if to answer her unspoken questions. Lorelai sat back down at the table Maxson’s piercing blue eyes watching her minutely,  
          “Can I ask you something?” she spoke up once she was seated comfortably,  
          “You just did” he joked, she felt uneasy for a second at this new, funny (well trying to be funny) side of Maxson. Before a second had passed she recovered and rolled her eyes at him, “go ahead Miss Thomson”  
          “You kissed me but… you haven't brought it up at all, why? Oh and also it's not Miss” she asked, he seemed shocked at how forward she was, he really should be used to it by now.

  
          At that moment a knock at the door interrupted them, she jumped, she had been waiting on his answer and hadn’t heard footsteps approach the door,  
          “Enter” the man sat across from her bellowed, it took her discerning eye to notice that he was relieved by the distraction. Someone entered with plates of food, the plates in themselves were a rarity here, the mess hall served food on scoop dinner like trays, each compartment containing a portion. Lorelai could see that the poor man was nervous as he placed each in front of them, whether that was from the close proximity to Maxson or the fact that she was there she didn't know. The food itself was simple, mirelurk cakes that were browned to perfection, mashed Tatoes and a boiled dark leaf she hadn’t seen before. After the food was served the ‘waiter’ scurried away and her attention turned back to her host,  
          “What are these leaves?” she lifted one on a fork as she asked, Maxson sighed, deflating a little he had clearly worried she would bring up the kiss again,  
          “An experimental plant, it is highly nutritious and able to strive in irradiated soil, or at least that's what they tell me. I was asked to test it for it's taste”  
          “So you asked me to stay to help in an experiment then?”  
          “No I asked you to stay because I enjoy your company”  
          “Oh… well I suppose that's a good enough reason” she twisted some of the leaves onto her fork and tasted them “they're ok, taste like summer greens or over boiled spinach”  
          “I'm glad you approve” she didn’t know if he meant approve of the food or his comment but she could guess,  
          “You haven't answered my earlier question” she pointed out, noticing his back stiffen and something she couldn't entirely read flash in his eyes,  
          “Yes… I kissed you because I wanted to, it was a lapse in judgement, a mistake” despite herself Lorelai felt her heart sink into her stomach, she wanted to leave but couldn't so instead she ate her food quickly avoiding his gaze,  
          “I should go” she stood and pulled the door open, walking away as quickly as she dared.


	4. Back To Goodneighbour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Lorelai get drunk and Hancock is adorable

          Running from the Brotherhood was a bad idea but she had nothing to do the next day either so Lorelai made up her mind to get drunk. She had been a good girl before the war, most of her time spent studying to get the best grades and a good degree. Ok maybe not entirely a good girl, she had had a thing for bad boys and a fairly long teenage rebellion. It had really only been by chance that she had met Nate on the one night she had allowed a friend to drag her out for the night. Drinking wasn't her thing and at a bar with her friends she had felt very out of place, two beers had made her light headed, four and she was drunk six had seen her kissing a stranger. The next morning a note was found in her pocket,

  
                    You my friend are a lightweight,  
                        Drink plenty of water and  
                        Call me,  
                               Nate x

  
          There was a phone number and a little heart, the two of them became fast friends quickly after that and he watched her date other men without complaining in the slightest, even when she would moan to him about how badly they treated her. It was two years before he finally told her he had been in love with her almost the whole time he'd known her, the rest was history really.

  
          Now she felt like alcohol was a good substitute for feelings, or a block for them maybe. Pushing through the door into the bar she had found in Goodneighbour a Ghoul in a suit greeted her and gestured at the door. Downstairs she could hear music and gentle chatter that lulled her into a sense of ease. Looking about the place it wasn't so bad, a bit grubby but homely, with drifters sat at tables dotted about and a few stood near the stage where a singer was crooning away. Lorelai walked up to the bar, surprised to find a mister handy robot as the bartender,  
          “What’ll it be?” he said gruffly in an English accent that was very out of place in post apocalyptic America, he was absently cleaning a glass with a dish rag which only seemed to make it dirtier,  
          “Beer?” she asked questioningly,  
          “Yep we do beer” after a few moments a dirty glass of muddy looking liquid was placed in front of her, she looked at it for a moment, unsure if it was safe. The robot just looked at her with a single eye stalk, it seemed like her would be raising an eyebrow if he had them,  
          “It's on me” came a gruff voice she recognised, she turned to see the pirate ghoul, Hancock stood at the bar with her. Watching him with bright interest he smiled at her, “don't talk much do ya doll”  
          “No” she replied, he didn’t seem to mind and she concluded that he liked the sound of his own voice,  
          “You don't seem like the dumb type, just like you're taking everything in… right?” his obsidian eyes were meeting hers as she looked at him in shock, “I'm a good judge of character, enjoy your beer” She watched as he walked away towards a corner table full of people who were providing the most noise in the bar. It was like looking over at the popular table in school and she was reading her homework alone again. She watched one of the women as she touched the ghoul, little subtle things at first, a touch to the arm, a stroke of the hand, before long his arm was around her and Lorelai had finished her drink,  
          “What's your name?” she asked the robot as he poured her another,  
          “Whitecastle Charlie, most people call me Charlie no matter how many time I tell them not to” he placed the pint in front of Lorelai and she dug around for caps but the robot, Charlie, wasn’t looking at her, instead over at Hancock. She followed his gaze to see a subtle nod from the ghoul and a wink aimed at her “it’s on the house” Charlie told her and powered away grumbling.

  
          The rest of the night was spent drinking and people watching as she slowly slipped into a comfortable drunken state. At one point she noticed Hancock leaving with the blonde he had spent most of the evening with, nodding to Charlie and her as he left. It seemed he was paying for the whole night because every time she ordered a new drink her caps would be refused with a grumble from the robot. She couldn’t figure that one out, the Mayor seemed like a sleaze and it's not often someone will pay for a girl to drink all night without having ulterior motives but from what she could tell he had… that issue covered already. After musing on it for about two minutes she decided he just liked to splash around the cash, or the caps, to impress people.  
Her head was spinning and she had a lazy smile on her face when she got up to leave. She stumbled from her bar stool and was caught by someone, smiling at the stranger as he helped her up the stairs.

\---------------

          Head pounding and bum cheeks numb she blinked awake holding her small pale hand up to her head and taking stock. Brick walls surrounded her and she seemed to be leaning against metal with a muddy street underneath her. Looking up and behind her head warned her with a sharp pain but she had managed to assess that she was leaned against a dumpster before having to snap her head forward. Great, hungover in an alley in a town full of ghouls and junkies… Maxson’s going to love me she thought with a brain melting chuckle, images of the night swimming through her head. Someone had helped her outside but she couldn’t for the life of her remember who or what they looked like. Obviously they had unceremoniously dumped her in the alley, lovely. She patted her pockets for the smoke grenades that could call down a vertibird, they were for emergencies but right now she felt like hell and didn’t care. Her pockets were empty though, no caps, no grenades, no stimpaks. In a panic she checked her back, the laser rifle she had brought with her (standard issue not the one from Danse thankfully) was gone too. Clearly her good samaritan had been a thief, at this point she realised her ring was gone, the gold band she wore around her finger, her wedding band and so was Nate’s.

  
          Tears filled her eyes and fell unchecked down her cheeks, she felt so foolish to have let this happen. Sitting in the dirt in an alleyway she just let it all spill out, the feelings she had growing for the most distant man in the world, her idiocy at her situation now, her loss, her son. It felt like hours she cried until her head was so painful it was almost blinding and her eyes were red and there was nothing left. Her pip boy was still on her arm thankfully and she played on a game for a while to calm herself down, she wasn't exactly concentrating through her throbbing skull but it helped. After a while she felt like she could manage again and set off to find help… to the only person she could think of.

\---------------

Lorelai stood in the doorway of a room with two big sofas, worktops around the edges and chems pretty much everywhere. Hovering by the entrance unnoticed she watched for a while as Hancock and a heavily armored, ginger woman spoke. This woman seemed all about business, outlining threats to the town and problems they might face as the Mayor nodded solemnly. Lorelai shifted her weight on her aching legs and a floorboard creaked making the rooms occupants look up at her,  
          “Well look who it is” Hancock grinned at her before his face fell “what's wrong doll?”  
          “I need help” she said to him, unsure if he would help her but he stood and reached his arm out to her, shooing the other woman away and taking her by the elbow to a red couch. They sat side by side and she just looked at the floor,  
          “How can I help sunshine?” this made her look up at him, her green eyes still strong despite the red around them,  
          “I'm a fool… I've been robbed” she told him and he gave her a soft look of sympathy before narrowing his eyes,  
          “Did they hurt you?” he asked, a hand raising to her face to take her chin and turn it this way and that looking for any sign of an injury there. His hand was warm on her skin and far softer than she had expected when it looked so rough,  
          “No I don’t think so… my head is killing me though” she gave him a weak smile,  
          “Hangover?” he asked with a cheeky glint in his deep eyes,  
          “First hangover, I don’t really drink”  
          “Guess chems are a no no then, hair of the dog is the best hangover cure I know” he stood and went over to a fridge, not working but still a decent storage space. Pulling out a bottle of beer he walked back over and offered it to her, the smell made her feel sick but she took it anyway out of politeness, “I could always give you some med-x to help with the pain if you want?”  
          “What does it do?”  
          “Basic painkiller, gives you one hell of a buzz though in your state I'm not sure it will, it'll probably just take the pain away”  
          “Ok, sleeping in an alley hasn't exactly helped, my joints are killing me” she gave him a small laugh,  
          “It's gonna involve a needle, do you want me to do it?” she nodded, thankful she had worn her jeans and t-shirt when the ghoul took her arm and found a vein, his skin warm against hers. After a short pricking sensation as the needle pierced her skin she felt a warmth through her bloodstream causing all the pain to just wash away,  
          “Thank you” she muttered sleepily to Hancock who was looking down at her a smile on his face,  
          “Now you're welcome to stay here as long as you need love but we should probably think about how we're going to get you home” she nodded,  
          “I need to go back, Maxson is going to kill me already don't want to make him any worse” the drug had clearly made her mouth a lot looser than usual, she really hadn’t meant to mention Maxson,  
          “I know that name… isn't he that brotherhood king or something?” Hancock looked at her with suspicion,  
          “Yes… I didn’t mean to say anything”  
          “You’re brotherhood then, don't really strike me as the type”  
          “I thought you were a good judge of character” was she flirting? she never normally spoke this much let alone quipped with someone she didn’t know well… must be the drug,  
          “I am, you strike me as observant but not cold, intelligent and kind, not scared to get your hands dirty to help someone… the brotherhood are bigots and from what I hear that boy king is the worst of all”  
          “It’s complicated, I'm complicated and Maxson really isn't that bad, he's hard headed and doesn't like to be wrong but he cares about his people”  
          “He your boyfriend or something?”  
          “He's my boss… he… wouldn’t fraternize with someone like me but… he is a bit protective”  
          “Of you in particular?” this question came with an eyebrow raise, or at least the place where an eyebrow would once have been,  
          “I don’t know, like I said it's complicated” Lorelai didn’t really enjoy this line of questioning and took a deep swig of the beer she had been given and hell it tasted a lot better than the stuff last night,  
          “Don’t worry sunshine we'll get you back… any suggestions how though?”  
          “If I could get in touch with Maxson he would help… might send down a vertibird or something”  
          “Very swish… ok I'm gonna shout…. FAHR…. FAHRENHEIT” he yelled down the stairs, she really appreciated the warning, it gave her chance to cover her ears and save her poor head from anymore pain. The redhead from earlier sashayed up the stairs and cast a strange look towards Lorelai,  
          “Yes boss?” she asked turning her attention back to the Mayor,  
          “Fahr this is Lorelai, she needs some help getting home, can you send a group out to find some brotherhood knobs and give them a message?” he turned to face Lorelai “what do you want it to say… I can write for you if you want”  
          “No it's ok, I can do it” she took an old pen and a scrap of paper from the table in front of her and scribbled a quick note to Maxson letting him know where she was and what had happened and folding it letter style before writing his name and rank on the outside, “tell them to give it to Elder Maxson and Elder Maxson only”  
          “Got it Fahr?” he asked the woman who glared at Lorelai for a moment before nodding and leaving, Hancock turned to her “that’s Fahrenheit, my bodyguard, I trust her with my life… honestly sunshine I'm impressed, not a lot of people round here know how to write”  
          “I'm not from around here, well sort of anyway” she told him cryptically before, with a stab of guilt she remembered the rings “there's one other thing… they took something important from me and I understand if you can't get them back but it would mean a lot to me…”  
          “What are they love?”  
          “Wedding rings… mine and my husbands” she said quietly noticing the ghouls eyes turn away with a strange look, something like sadness or guilt,  
          “You're married, I'm sorry I joked about Maxson being your boyfriend”  
          “I'm a widow” she said as her throat closed and the tears threatened again,  
          “Sorry love… mind if I ask what happened?”  
          “I don’t really want to talk about it… it’s…” she trailed off,  
          “Complicated?” he finished for her, making her laugh as she nodded, Lorelai yawned, making Hancock smile at her warmly “Wanna get a nap? Wouldn't be the first time this sofa has had a hungover person nap on it”  
          “Don’t you need this room?” she asked him, but honestly she was already close to falling asleep already,  
          “Well not really… I could stay” despite the fact that half the time he sounded like a womaniser and a misogynist his tone sounded like the offer was entirely innocent so Lorelai simply nodded and laid her head in his lap, drifting off to sleep with fingers running through her hair.


	5. Maxson Lays Claim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning from Goodneighbour Lorelai gets in a heated argument with Maxson that ends up leading to other kinds of heated... exchanges.

          A gentle movement woke Lorelai and it took some time for her to realise where she was, which was apparently the statehouse in gGodneighbour with her head in Hancock's lap. She jumped upright to see Fahrenheit the bodyguard looking at her one eyebrow raised and complete disinterest barely masking hatred,  
          “Hey sleepy head, someone came to get you” hancock said softly seemingly unaware of the look his bodyguard was giving her, “time to head home”  
          “Ok… thank you Hancock… for everything” Lorelai pulled herself off the sofa and was a little surprised when she saw Hancock following her,  
          “Gonna see you out sunshine, cannot have you walking about undefended now can we?”  
          “I suppose” she allowed him to walk ahead of her and down the stairs, as she brushed past Fahrenheit she heard her say  
          “you play chess? Sometimes you gotta sacrifice a piece” Lorelai was smart enough to see the threat it was but really if the woman was comparing the town to chess then Lorelai was on someone else's board.

 ----------------

Outside the statehouse stood two power armor clad knights, each holding an automatic laser rifle. Lorelai couldn’t read their expressions through the metal helmets but she could almost feel the discomfort seeping from them, it was blindingly obvious they didn’t want to be there,  
          “This is a little excessive don't you think?” she said gesturing at the two men and their artillery,  
          “By the orders of Maxson himself Knight” the tinny voice of one of them said through the speakers in the helmet, she sighed and rolled her eyes before turning to face Hancock, “see, I'll be well looked after”  
          “Good, clearly Maxson can see what he's got in you” he held his arms up to offer a hug and Lorelai gladly accepted with a smile, wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering a thank you before breaking away and following the Knights. They weren't even to the gate when the two men fell into a guard formation, one in front and one behind her. Lorelai looked around the hulking form of one of her power armored bodyguards and raised an eyebrow at Hancock mouthing ‘see’ at him, he laughed and waved to her as she stepped out through the gate.

 -----------------

          “Lorelai” Maxson said softly taking one step towards her, she could feel his eyes looking her over for injuries or maybe other reasons. They were on the command deck and he had turned to her the second she came into view as though he had been waiting for her. He opened his mouth to say more but a scribe had come in, hanging by the door and waiting for him to finish. He straightened his back and looked down at Lorelai, her head was bowed ready for a lecture rather than her usual fierceness,  
          “You are to report to the med bay for an examination” he said to her coldly “then you will report to my quarters immediately, I do not want to hear of a repeat of your actions today Knight”  
          “Yes sir” she hurried away surprised it had been such a short meeting but happy too, she didn’t need a lecture right now. At the med bay Cade gave her the all clear, no injuries at all and he even insisted on checking for signs of rape which was not at all comfortable. Dismissed from there she scuttled through the ship her face red, heading for the Elders room wondering what to expect.

  
          He opened the door wearing his usual clothes and his usual scowl until he saw it was her and his face softened. Moving aside he made sure the door was properly closed and locked before turning to her and taking her face in his hands,  
          “Are you hurt?” he asked, she looked into his eyes to see real concern, the blush rising in her cheeks again at the touch of his big warm hands,  
          “No sir” she couldn’t help but smile as he ran a finger along her face but then he pulled away and stood, his hands clasped at his back and he stood in silence for a few moments,  
          “Do you have any idea what could have happened?” he almost yelled, rounding on her his face an inch from her own. The sudden change in his mood caught her off guard and she stepped back,  
          “Yes sir” Lorelai could feel the tears starting to well in her eyes and she pulled them wide hoping to stop feeling so scared and frail,  
          “And you were seen hugging a ghoul of all things” he spat at her which made her turn immediately to anger,  
          “That ghoul is Mayor John Hancock and he happened to be the one who helped me” she shouted back, looking into his angry, blue eyes,  
          “He could have done anything to you”  
          “And he didn’t he helped me”  
          “He gave you chems”  
          “How do you know?”  
          “Cade’s report, he had you tested for everything remember?”  
          “Your doing I'm sure”  
          “Yes, I had to know what had happened to you”  
          “I told you what had happened to me, unless you don't trust me?”  
          “What the hell made you run off to Goodneighbour and get pass out drunk?” at this question Lorelai paused, she knew why but would she dare tell him?  
          “You said kissing me was a mistake” she said quietly, unsure of herself,  
          “Oh” the silence hung between them, both still stood staring into each other's eyes but the anger had faded.

          Maxson moved fast and suddenly his lips were on hers, his hand on her face. Lorelai’s eyelids fluttered closed as the big man kissed her hard, like he wanted to consume her, his tongue forced her lips open and invaded her mouth but she reciprocated with the same passion. His other hand found her arse and squeezed, lifting her as he straightened and pulled their bodies together without breaking their battling kiss. He moved, pushing her against the door and letting go as her legs wrapped around his waist. This time when he pulled at the hem of her top she lifted her arms, breaking the kiss for a second as he slipped it off, followed by her bra. His huge hand played with her breasts sending shooting fizzles right to her core, she moaned into his mouth as he ran his thumb over her nipple. At the noise he started to grind against her, she could feel his erection through both their clothes and the friction was exquisite.

  
          Maxson let go of one of her breasts to pull at the zip of his flight suit, undoing buckles as he went. His cock popped free and Lorelai broke away, looking down and gasping at the size. He liked that reaction, she could tell by the smirk when he moved her face back around and resumed the kiss, his warm mouth laying claim on hers. With a swift move he untangled her legs, holding her up by the waist and pulled down her jeans and underwear in one.

          When he entered her she felt her toes curl and cried out from the fullness on the very edge of pain. Her skin felt on fire, his lips against her neck as his hips started to move and she writhed at his weight against her. The cold metal on her back almost stung in contrast with the heat radiating from her skin as he moved inside her. She was panting and groaning, a deeply missed coil of heat forming in her belly. Harder and harder he fucked, growling against her skin until she could take no more and screamed “Maxson” as she came, him following at the sound of it.

           They both stayed like that for some time, sucking in fast breaths, her legs fallen either side of his hips while he held her up with just the force of his body against hers. With his breath caught he swung her over to the bed and laid her down getting in behind her and pulling over the blanket. After peppering soft kisses over her shoulder and neck Maxson fell asleep beside her. Lorelai watched him for a few minutes as he snored taking an indulgent moment to run her hand through his hair. Then she climbed out of the bed and dressed, sneaking off into the night without waking him.

\---------------

          When Lorelai woke the memories of the previous night hit her like a ton of bricks, she couldn’t honestly believe that had happened. But oh god it had been good. The ship was already awake around her and for a moment she listened to the anonymous noises while desperately fighting the urge to run straight to Maxson for another go. The day had to start though so she got up, got dressed and made her way to the mess hall for breakfast. It was busy, full of perfect specimen soldiers filling up on all the fuel it took to run that many muscles, she smiled when she saw Danse and quickly grabbed her breakfast to go sit with him,  
          “Morning Danse”  
          “Morning Knight”  
          “You should call me Lorelai, or Rory, I guess we're friends now?”  
          “Knight is fine… even though we are friends” she smiled at him, a big toothy grin at the first acknowledgement that they were friends, he glanced up from his papers and pulled a face at her “you seem to be in a good mood”  
          “I'm always in a good mood” she said, trying to sound offended,  
          “Not this much of a good mood… morning sir” she paled as her friend looked behind her and greeted someone… there weren't many people Danse called sir and deep down she knew it could only be him. She slowly turned her head to look up at none other than Maxson, the way he glared down at her made her think horrible things,  
          “Good morning Elder” she said with a bow of her head, he just nodded curtly at her. That hurt, they hadn't exactly spoken about what it would mean if they slept together, she worried it was just a one time thing but him being so dismissive right away stung. He sat down opposite her and engaged Danse in conversation, pointedly ignoring her, Lorelai got the message and ate her food quickly before leaving them to it.

\---------------

          She stalked the ship with a grim face, it was the middle of the day when a scribe told her that Maxson would see her on the command deck. Her scowl didn’t get any better when she saw him with his back to her, his stance guarded as usual. The broad shoulders and strong legs were bringing back images of the night before and she felt a swell in her chest, one she hadn't really expected. Maxson turned to face her and his scowl deepened when he saw hers and the way she was staring him down with her perfect green eyes,  
          “Knight” he said in greeting “am I to trust you were in your bunk early last night after your adventure the previous evening?”  
          “Yes sir” so this was still about that  
          “I would have preferred it if you had… stayed where you were” he said, shocking her with the obvious meaning in his words, he had wanted her to stay,  
          “Does this mean I can expect… similar in future?” she was quite enjoying this, it was like a spy game talking in codes so that others in the room didn’t catch on, she started to smile,  
          “I think this may be better discussed in my quarters at 2100 Knight Thomson” she couldn't help but grin at his words, he still wanted her, she could swear her heart was about to explode,  
          “Of course sir”  
          “Dismissed Knight” it was all she could do not to skip from the room as she left, trying to force her usual look of disinterest onto her happy face.

 --------------- 

          With a quick glance about the hallway he must have deemed it empty and his lips met hers almost as soon as the door opened. Lorelai moaned into his lips as the soft kiss deepened and became more passionate though not as rough and rushed as before. Without breaking apart he pulled her into the room and pushed the door closed with a swift kick. A small wiper escaped from her lips as she felt the warmth of Maxson’s pull away from her, pouting she flicked her eyes towards him. With a sly grin she realised he was looking her up and down, taking in the tight black jeans and off white tank top she had decided to meet him in. After surveying her his eyes traveled up to her face, her lips and finally her big, bright, green eyes,  
          “You are so beautiful” Maxson said through a rare smile that Lorelai couldn’t help but return. He dived towards her, effortlessly scooping her up and placing her sat on the surface of his table,  
          “I'm going to take my time with you Lorelai” his hand on the small of her back he pushed his body into hers, she gasped as his rough shirt rubbed against her breasts and he leaned in to her ear to whisper “I'm going to make you beg” she shuddered and sighed, feeling a warmth in her crotch at the idea.

  
          Maxson stood over her, one hand rubbing the point where her spine met her hips with his thumb his other coming up to her chest. He ran a finger along the seam of her bra through the fabric of her top, a lazy grin forming on his face. She was the one to pull up the hem of her top this time, removing it with a quick swish and undoing her bra, allowing it to fall to the floor. Maxson let out a little growl and pounced on her breasts, taking one in his hand and nipping at the soft flesh of the other with his teeth. He reached the nipple and sunk his teeth in slowly, the slight pain only made Lorelai hotter, a whimper falling through her barely open lips. The gentle ministrations to her back stopped and his hand moved to the front of her jeans, undoing the fly and running fingers along the top of her knickers before slipping further to her soft hair.

  
          Still running her nipple between his teeth Maxson pulled down her jeans and the cotton pants underneath leaving her sat naked in front of him. Lorelai suddenly felt shy when he lifted her head and let his eyes wander freely about her body. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from covering herself with her hands and was shaking when he reached for her knees to part her legs, he noticed,  
          “It’s ok, relax, trust me” he said, uncharacteristically soft and caring and she allowed him to part her and see every bit of her. It was a bit of a shock when he thrust his head between her legs and his tongue met her clit, she let out a little yelp turning to a long moan as the sensation built up. She noticed his eyes were on her, looking up, darkened with lust and when their eyes met he plunged a finger inside her making her cry out and throw her head back. When she came it was with a look of shock, sure she wasn’t exactly inexperienced but this!

  
          Maxson stood looking at her where she laid, her legs open and sat back on her elbows on his table. He took her by the hips and flipped her around, removing his own clothes while he looked her up and down, watching her back move as she panted. He ran a hand down the curve of her back and entered her with a satisfied grunt, thrusting slow and enjoying the way she wriggled, speeding up his thrusts to be met with a groan each time he picked up the pace. Lorelai could feel the friction curling in her belly and knew it wouldn't be long until she fell apart again, her cries growing louder. He slowed and she mewled disappointedly but cried again when he took a handful of her hair, wrapped one of his arms around hers and pulled her up. Her feet barely touched the floor, he thrust again once and leaned in taking a deep sniff of her hair before whispering, “beg me”  
          “Please Maxson, please” her voice was more like a whine and she wriggled her body against him, her toes moving where they just barely touched the ground,  
          “What do you want?” he growled into her ear,  
          “Fuck… Maxson I want to come… please… fuck me harder please” he thrust into her hard once making her cry and write,  
          “Tell me you are mine”  
          “I'm yours I'm all yours… please” she could feel him smile against her skin and he thrust up into her again and again, roughly moving his hips until she came undone. Wrapping his free arm around her waist to hold her he followed suit, her body twitching and tightening then relaxing around him.

  
          He lifted her and carried her over to his bed, laying her softly onto it and climbing in, just watching as her eyes fell closed,  
          “Call me Arthur” he said quietly,  
          “Hummmm?” Lorelai moaned sleepily  
          “I would like you to call me Arthur when we are alone” he was gruff but she could tell this was probably a big step for him, she had honestly never heard anyone use his first name,  
          “Alright” she paused “Arthur… I think it's time I stopped hiding and tried to find my son”  
          “Yes, I agree… everything I have is yours to help you find him” he locked her green eyes in his, showing sincerity,  
           “I'd like to take Danse to diamond city, there's a detective there who might be able to help”  
          “We'll make plans tomorrow, now I would like you to stay the night”  
          “You wouldn't be able to stop me” Lorelai let sleep take her feeling satisfied and happy for the first time since she woke up in this future.

 ---------------

          The next morning Lorelai was woken with a sharp jolt, that couple of seconds of panic at waking in an unfamiliar place before the events of the night before came back to her. Arthur was sat up beside her and gave her a soft kiss, the two dressed and he checked the coast was clear before heading off. Back at her normal bunk, hoping to change quickly and meet up with Danse she spotted something on her bed. Picking up a dirty old envelope she looked about in confusion, no idea how it got there. It felt heavier than a letter and made a tinkling sound as if from metal hitting metal when she shook it. Giving in the her curiosity she opened it and tipped the contents onto the sheets, two gold rings, one bigger than the other, her and Nate’s wedding rings. There was also a note that read simply “compliments of Goodneighbour” she smiled to herself as she placed her ring back on her finger, enjoying the feel of its familiar weight. It seemed she had a new friend.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smutty Smutty smut smut 
> 
> Really this was mostly just a lot of smut but there's some plot in there too.
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments, you guys mean a lot to me!


	6. After Diamond City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai returns after killing Kellog feeling a little deflated, Maxson doesn't get the hint that she's not really "in the mood" because he's like... 20 and hasn't ever really got round to a proper relationship.
> 
> The next step towards Shaun is though Kellog's memories and that is not an easy trip!

          He was watching from the flight deck when she returned, looking up at him she smiled and saw his face soften in return (probably the closest he got to smiling unless they were alone). She made sure to go straight to him,  
          “Knight” he said with a small nod of greeting,  
          “Elder Maxson” she fixed her eyes on his a habit that made him equal parts mad and happy,  
          “Was your mission a success?”  
          “Partly”  
          “Care to explain further Knight?”  
          “We found the individual and eventually he led us to a man named Kellog, he was the man responsible…” she looked around her making sure no one was there, she had told Danse that she would debrief the Elder and he had left her to it. They were alone in the room but people still stood outside, guards were always on watch so she lowered her voice “I killed him and Arthur… my son… he’s older and… oh god… he’s in the institute”  
Maxson’s eyes widened in shock and he turned from her to pace back towards the window motioning for her to follow,  
          “I am sorry to hear this news but it changes nothing, in fact it gives me more motivation to find and exterminate the organisation” he said loudly before lowering his voice to almost a whisper, “are you alright?”  
          “No… it’s a lot to take in… I have more information but I need a little time to get my head around it. Don't worry I'll write it all in a report” she whispered back  
          “Would you like to come to my quarters this evening I… would like to talk more and… without having to whisper”  
          “I would like that very much… thank you Arthur” she finished with a smile,  
          “Dismissed Knight, go and clean up and get some rest before the next mission” he spoke up, loud enough that others could hear, she nodded and left thankful that the Prydwen has mostly functioning showers.

\--------------------

Maxson opened the door and offered her a seat and a glass of whiskey, Lorelai still wasn't too sure about drinking after the night in Goodneighbour but she took it anyway, drinking it in little sips,  
          “Are you well Lorelai?” Arthur asked her, his face concerned,  
          “Yes, I think… I have to go back to Goodneighbour” she flicked her eyes up to his, gauging his reaction, so far he just looked mildly confused,  
          “Why?”  
          “There are people there who can help me, something about accessing Kellog’s memories” she shuddered to say the name “I said I would meet Valentine there tomorrow”  
          “The detective?”  
          “Yes” she didn’t want to talk, just felt numb like the emotions wouldn't line up right. He stood and paced around to her, putting large hand on her shoulders, the warmth of them making her relax. Then he moved his head to give her a short chase peck on the cheek, for some reason it irritated her. When he moved to her neck and started kissing and biting there she jumped up and twisted away,  
          “Arthur I'm really not in a good place right now, please stop” she said, standing with a chair between them,  
          “Don’t be silly Lorelai, I just want to help” he moved the chair away and paced quickly across the room to wrap his arms around her and lift her. Her chest was in his face and he paid attention to her collarbones, kissing and nibbling them. She was angry, irritated by the display when all she really needed was consoling, a shoulder to cry on,  
          “I SAID NO” she yelled, seeing red and thrashing around. She pulled herself from his grip and ran to the door dragging it open, before leaving him she turned “I'm going to Goodneighbour tomorrow, I will see you when I return Arthur”

\----------------------

          The very second the memory pod opened Lorelai jumped out and ran for the door. As usual Danse had been sent with her and came clunking along behind her retreating back. Outside she ran for the nearest alleyway and threw up, all the horror of walking through Kellogs memories spilling out with the bile. The power armor clad soldier just watched and she could tell he was uncomfortable with the situation,  
          “Danse… I need to be alone… go check on Valentine then just… head back to the Prydwen” she said, panting from the stress of the whole thing,  
          “My orders were-”  
          “Fuck your orders… just go home” she interrupted him so intensely he knew not to argue more and drifted off with a few backwards glances.

  
         As soon as the soldier was gone Lorelai slid down the wall, bringing her knees up and burying her face, hiding the tears streaming down it. She didn't know how long she sat there, crying alone in a back alley in Goodneighbour when a voice snapped her out of the well of self pity,  
           “You need to get out of this habit of ending up in alleys in my town” she looked up at Hancock and offered him a weak smile “or is it just an excuse to see my handsome face”  
          “How come you always seem to be there right when I need you?”  
          “Good luck I guess… come on let's head to the statehouse” he helped her up and offered his arm, she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and he helped her into the statehouse,  
          “So, sister, what brought this on?” Hancock met her eyes and seemed so genuine, so caring that she found herself opening up to him, the words bypassing her brain so she didn't have the chance to think about them first,  
          “I fucked everything up… my son, he's older, he's a child not a baby and Kellog lost someone too am I going to end up like that? Maxson is so distant am I going to end up getting dragged down that road? Revenge is what turned Kellog into a monster and I've done the opposite, I hid from it but does that make me a monster? Opposite sides of the same coin?”  
          “Woooh woooh slow down love… start at the beginning and explain it to me like I'm five”  
          “Kellog killed my husband and took my baby, I killed him because I had to but honestly I liked it… he took away the two things I loved the most and I wanted revenge but I wanted my baby back too”  
          “Nothing wrong with that, you took down a monster and made the Commonwealth a safer place”  
          “That’s it though in his memories… ok… wait… Dr Amari and Valentine, they helped me get into his memories and… Kellog he had a wife and a daughter, he got revenge and it took him down the path that lead to him killing my family. I'm not saying he was a good guy but… am I just like him?”  
          “Oh god no sunshine, you're trying to save your son not just kill”  
          “But am I… I spent months hiding from it all on the Prydwen where I could just pretend it wasn’t happening and that makes me a bad mother”  
          “I know a lot about hiding from things you should be facing… look you did the best you could, if you hadn't spent that time on the Prydwen Kellog would just have killed you, you wouldn't be as strong”  
          “I guess… did I ever tell you I'm actually 235?” somehow the ghoul didn't look as shocked or impressed as she expected, in fact he just grinned,  
          “You didn't but word gets around here fast doll” he smiled at her and moved a little closer on the sofa “you look good for it”  
          “Hahahaha thanks… I was 25 when the bombs dropped, still feel 25 now it's just the world that's changed around me”  
          “There you are” Valentine was stood in the doorway, glaring but not unkindly, he looked toward Hancock and spoke directly to him “I should just check this office straight away when a pretty girl goes missing in Goodneighbour”  
          “Oh Valentine I'm sorry… are you ok?” Lorelai stood and went over to embrace the synth detective, she didn't even notice Hancock pulling a face,  
          “Don't worry about me doll” he said and she smiled at him, her hands still on his shoulders and taking in every detail of his battered face with her quick eyes “best get you home I guess”  
          “Yea, I'll head to the airport myself though” his face dropped when she said this  
          “You can't go walking around the Commonwealth alone Lorelai” his tone was angry in a fatherly way which is how she had come to view the bucket of bolts,  
          “Whoever takes me will have to come back alone”  
          “You still can't go off alone sister” this was Hancock, it touched her to see the two of them caring so much,  
          “It's not like either of you are welcomed by the brotherhood” she argued,  
          “I don't understand why you're still with them when their morals are so different to yours doll” Nick asked, it was something she'd been giving a lot of thought to herself recently,  
          “It’s… complicated. Plus I owe them so much” it really was difficult to explain, especially to two people who represented everything the brotherhood hates and whom she adored. Plus she couldn’t exactly tell them about Maxson, or her feelings for him which she didn’t really understand herself.  
Eventually she agreed that the two could escort her to the airport only if they stayed out of sight of any brotherhood soldiers and let her head in alone. The journey was pleasant the three of them laughing and joking as they walked. Spending one night camping they sat around the fire and talked about some of Nick's old cases and Hancock's adventures while Lorelai told them about pre war life (Nick already knew most of it but Hancock's eyes were like saucers and not just from the chems).She realised she was happy out here with her new found friends but also happy with Maxson, Lorelai had big decisions to make but not just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't notice but this is actually a really short chapter... well good things come in small packages (I hope).


	7. The Glowing Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai always gets her way, mostly just by ignoring everything Maxson says and this includes a trip to the glowing sea

          He almost growled as he rounded on her, hot anger flashing in icy blue eyes. After returning to the Prydwen late she knew he would most likely be in his quarters so headed straight there. Arthur had made sure she was alright before questioning her about her findings. He'd become thoughtful when she mentioned teleportation and briefly happy when she had mentioned seeing her son in Kellog's memories. Now he was livid,  
          “NO… THERE IS NO CONCEIVABLE WAY YOU ARE WALKING INTO THE GLOWING SEA” he shouted nostrils flaring an inch from her face,  
          “It’s not really up to you, if you don't want me to go alone I can take Nick or Hancock” Lorelai stared him down, calm in the face of his anger,  
          “A SYNTH OR A GHOUL? DAMIT LORELAI… if you insist on going yourself at least take Danse and do proper prep for a journey like that”  
          “what did you expect I'd do? Just stroll in there in a summer dress?”  
          “No, you're right you are capable but I don't think you really know what it'll be like in there… no one does”  
          “Then I'll prepare for anything… Arthur I can do this, especially with Danse at my side”  
          “And if I accompanied you myself?”  
          “Good look getting that past Proctor Quinlain, the last great hope of the brotherhood going into the glowing sea with a lowly Knight”  
          “You're right… damn it woman why are you always right?” he put a hand on both of her cheeks, giving her a playful little shake before he kissed her deeply,  
          “Danse will come with me and you can set up whatever you want to protect me from the scary monsters but I am going” she stared him down, putting every ounce of determination she could muster into her emerald eyes, he sighed a clear signal he was backing down,  
          “Fine, preparations will start tomorrow, for now I am tired and would be happy to get some sleep” he paced over to his bed and Lorelai wasn’t sure what to do, she had shared his bed repeatedly but only after incredibly satisfying sex, this was new, the idea of just laying beside him as he slept, her eyes drifting closed happily. It was a tempting idea but he hadn’t exactly offered an invitation so she made her way for the door, reaching for the handle when a big hand landed on her own,  
          “Where exactly are you going Lorelai?” the grumbling tone suggested her lover was too tired to deal with... anything, she looked up at his eyes, they were dull and surrounded by dark circles,  
          “Arthur? Have you been sleeping?” she asked pointedly, her gaze running over his features and managing to catch the slight twitch that suggested the question had him feeling defeated in some way,  
          “No” he supplied no further explanation and Lorelai wasn’t exactly one to drop something when she knew she was so close,  
          “Why?”  
          “Good God you are an infuriating woman... I worried about you alright! Now get in the damn bed” he angrily gestured with one arm towards his double bed, the only one aboard the ship, his other hand was rubbing the bridge of his handsome nose. Lorelai raised a hand and ran it along his, gently removing it from his face and touching his cheek with her thin fingers,  
          “Thank you” she said kindly, his eyes shot open and caught her own, softening at the sincerity there “I know it took a lot to say that and I’m glad you did”  
          “Can we sleep now?”  
          “Yes Elder Maxson sir” he glared at her with a playful twinkle and a slight rise in the corner of his mouth giving away his true feelings. He grabbed her by the waist and threw her to the bed, climbing in after her after they both removed their clothes and wrapping his body around hers. With the warmth of his chest against her bare back and his arms around her Lorelai drifted off to sleep quicker that she could have guessed, warm and safe together in a little cocoon of blankets.

          The next day she woke to find Arthur still asleep behind her, snoring loudly and cupping one of her breasts in his large hand, she was quite proud to see that she easily filled his hand. She had always had a fairly large chest and hips coupled with her small waist and a stomach that would never be called flat but not really round either she had always thought of herself as having a good body, the Prydwen mess hall definitely kept her well fed. These days though she could feel the strong muscles forming underneath her soft flesh, her arms had grown slimmer and more defined and her thighs could probably strangle a deathclaw. It wasn’t until waking up now, Maxson holding her like he was that she realised what these changes meant, she was slowly growing harder, stronger, turning into a real soldier and becoming the person who could save her son. She smiled to herself, this was a chance the Brotherhood had given her and the man behind her had given her the chance to be part of the Brotherhood, she was thankful and she felt something growing, something more than an all consuming lust but right now she refused to acknowledge what it was.  
Rolling over carefully so as not to wake him she studied Arthur’s face like she had so many times before, unlike before though he seemed softer, younger in his sleep without the weight of all the (DICKS) responsibility. Lorelai didn’t exactly know what she was thinking at first, banishing all the emotions and letting the lust take over she shimmied down in the bed to find that her lover was already hard even in his sleep, she wondered for a second what he might be dreaming about. She gently ran a finger along his shaft and smiled as he stirred and groaned a little but didn’t wake, apparently he was a deeper sleeper than she thought. Next she ran the same finger back down the underside and along his, quite impressive, balls, another groan and he rolled onto his back but continued to snore. Pressing her tongue to the tip of his hard penis she felt him jerk his hips upwards and snapped her face away, this finally worked though and he lifted the blankets to look down at her,  
          “Lorelai?” he questioned, she just grinned and winked at him before circling the end of his cock with her tongue and wrapping her mouth around him, he sighed deeply and dropped one of his hands to her head to tangle in her long hair. She allowed her eyes to flicker closed and she bobbed her head, sucking and licking until her Lover was groaning and panting with every movement. She let go with a slight pop and looked up at the effect she had on him, he looked back at her, unable to move but watching with lust as she straddled his hips and lowered herself, arching her back and two ring her face up at the ceiling when he entered her as though she was praying to a higher power. It didn’t take many of her slow teasing thrusts to get him worked up enough to flip her onto her back and take control, with both legs thrown over his shoulder he drove into her giving no chance for the ripples of pleasure from each jut of his hips to die down before he plunged into her again.  
She grew tight and tense and cried out louder with each movement of his hips until, with one last scream and a firework of intensity she came apart around him, loosing track of when he came too but noticing when he laid down beside her,  
          “You she wake me up like that more often” he instructed her but in a happy, playful tone and she took it to be a request not an order,  
          “I don’t know how well I’ll manage a days work after that” she whispered breathlessly at him, noticing that he was watching her chest rise and fall as she all but panted,  
          “Well I suppose we’ll find out, today will be a busy day after all”  
          “Oh shit” she swore as it all came back to her “the Glowing Sea”  
          “Exactly, I would be more than happy if you have changed your mind Lorelai”  
          “No, I’m still going I just... forgot” she got up from the bed and found her BoS uniform discarded the night before and, after slipping it on she kissed Arthur passionately, smiled at the fact that he had noticeably enjoyed it (only minutes after their last... escapade) and slipped out of the door after checking the coast was clear.

          Lorelai was waiting in the Power Armour bay, Danse by her side and butterflies in her stomach. She had made sure to get a shower and put on her Vault Suit before finding Danse in the mess hall and telling him about all that had happened in Goodneighbour letting him know that she had already seen the Elder and told him everything (of course she didn’t give even a hint of what had happened after that). Now they awaited both Maxson and Ingram as they stood between her rarely used power armour, still in it’s station after all this time and Danse’s barely ever not in use set, he looked uncomfortable out of it. Lorelai looked up at the tall man beside her and giggled at the discomfort he was trying so hard to hide,  
          “It’s fine Danse, I’m sure you won’t be sent into the lawless wastes without your power armour to protect you” he glared at her but it quickly gave was to a smile and a shake of his head,  
          “I just don’t feel whole without it Knight Thomson”  
          “I understand, I don’t feel the same but I do understand, and call me Lorelai”  
          “Knight Thomson is fine... good morning Elder Maxson” he saluted and she looked up smiling at her lover and when everyone’s eyes where averted, as they usually where when he speaks, he winked at her giving her a shock that meant she had to bite her lip to hold back giggles. He turned to Ingram,  
          “We have no idea what to expect from the glowing sea but radiation, Proctor what modifications would you recommend to these power suits?” he asked her, his face once again hard and serious, his tone that of a war hardened leader,  
          “Well there’s obvious things like lead coating which should improve the radiation resistance but we’ll have to think of more... ah... immediate issues too” the woman said, she seemed to be trying not to blush and glanced worriedly at Danse... did the Proctor have a crush? Lorelai smiled at herself with this new information in hand,  
          “What exactly do you mean Proctor?” Maxson said bringing Lorelai’s attention right back to where it almost always was,  
          “If the two are traipsing into the glowing sea for an unknown amount of time with no idea where they might be able to find shelter suitable for removing the power armour there are certain... functions... to be thought about” Ingram was blushing full pelt now, if Lorelai had known she might have asked Danse to stay out of this meeting, though looking at the slight redness to Arthur’s cheeks she might have asked him the same thing,  
          “ah... well I leave that to you Ingram” he swiftly chanced the subject and left the Proctor to get on with whatever job took her attention more “Paladin, Knight if you would follow me there is much to discuss”

          Thankfully the two returned to the Prydwen mostly unharmed, along the way they had found a few caves that showed little to no radiation so had taken the chance to rest there without worrying about power armour and the functions the Proctor had made preparations for. Still Lorelai was happy to get out of the big metal cage for good, or at least for the foreseeable future and turn her attention to the idea of a shower. After two weeks of constantly wearing the armour and walking every day she stank and flat out refused to see anyone, especially Maxson, before she had the chance to shower and change. To her great relief Danse acquiesced and so when she stood before the gathered Proctors, Lance Captain Kells and Elder Maxson she was comfortable in her jeans and t-shirt rather than the BoS uniform she had almost peeled from her sweat soaked, tender skin,  
          “That is not Brotherhood uniform Knight” Kells chastised her, he seemed ready to launch into a lecture until Arthur raised his hand to halt him,  
          “I think these two have earned some leave for comfort, for now” he looked at her pointedly, the ice blue of his eyes burning into hers. She couldn’t tell if he wanted to rip her clothes off and fuck her right there or hug her tightly and make sure she was unharmed but she could tell whatever it was he was struggling to fight the urge. Lorelai simply smiled at him as they gazed into each other’s eyes, “Your report Paladin Danse?” Maxson had to force himself to tear his eyes away from Lorelai and pay attention to the Paladin as he told them about their long, tiresome adventure in boring detail. When he got to the part she had been dreading, the part about hunting down a courser Maxson’s attention flew right back to her, “is this true Knight Thomson?”  
          “Yes sir, Vrigil informed us that we would be able to access the institute with these plans” she waved the sketched and scribbled documents at the gathering “but also informed us that we would need a chip and a code from a courser which would mean killing said courser” a gasp rang through the room and the Elder looked at her like she had brought his whole world crashing down, though it was anger and fear not sadness. She could understand the reaction, she had never even seen a courser but she had heard rumours whispered in fearful tones, they were said to be made for one purpose that of returning lost Synths to the institute and ready and able to kill anything that stood in their path,  
          “I will send a team to do this, you two should rest” he said, staring at her goading her into arguing against him, unsurprisingly she did,  
          “I mean no offence sir but no, I must go, for one my pip boy is required to track the target and another it is my own son I am fighting for, I would trust the task to no one else” it was a good speech, she knew it was, she had rehearsed it again and again when she realised her lover would never let her go off to fight an institute killing machine. It was a good speech but it failed, his nostrils flared as he agreed, for the sake of the others in the room, to think over her offer and dismissed them. She knew he wouldn’t think it over and that all she could do was try to persuade him later, in private where he would be allowed to shout and grumble to his hearts content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fun fact, I typed some of this chapter up on my phone and it had apparently autocorrected informed to infomercial... kinda ruins the immersion when that happens.


	8. The Courser And The Gunners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maxson has refused to let Lorelai go after a courser herself, surprisingly she ignores him and does it anyway.

          Her eyes ran over the scene before her, horror growing like bile in the pit of her stomach and she wished for a moment she wasn’t observant enough to notice each slash and burn, the way each body had fallen in a pattern that suggested one attacker stood in the same spot and simply spinning around at each new threat. The bodies were clearly gunners, tattoos on their heads showing blood type, green camouflage clothing, the best weapons the Commonwealth spat out discarded around them. They were the cream of the crop, raiders that had risen past scrabbling in mud and killing farmers to actually make something of themselves and they had all been killed by one thing and here she was, alone, seeking to kill that one thing. She swallowed in an attempt to push her heart back down her throat to the place it belonged but it didn’t work and so she resigned herself and moved on.  
          Maxson had flat out refused to let Lorelai head out into the wastes to find and kill a course even if Danse was at her side, she had argued and made a great case but it fell on deaf ears. She had stormed out of his quarters and spent the night tossing and turning, searching every inch of her mind for an idea she could manipulate into a plan. The next morning she spent every last cap she had on weapons and ammo and caught a vertibird down to the airport, duffel bag in hand and backpack slung over her shoulder. Careful to avoid anyone’s gaze (not that anyone noticed, she was known to be quiet and shy so everyone assumed this was normal) she made her way towards the university buildings in the distance.  
          By this point she was cursing herself for not seeking other help, Hancock was a friend and surely he could help her find a hired gun... but she had no caps and she had asked so much of the Mayor already. Shaking off regrets she made her way slowly along the corridors of Greentec Genetics in a crouch, managing to kill a few gunners with stealth and a silenced pistol on her way up. Mostly it was just following bodies already made by her real prey, that would be the point of no return, when she would see just how brave she really was. The top floor loomed like a bell tower and once she reached it she could hear pleading and a soulless voice from another room, a quick peek told her that the course was “interrogating” two gunners, a task that seemed to consist of pointing a gun at a terrified man and asking questions until he fell apart and became a weeping mess. Down to one gunner, the thing hadn’t even flinched as it pulled the trigger on a begging, unarmed man and Lorelai could feel a freezing cold spread over her like she was in the vault again. She had to make her move before it... He... The course, was done with this one and was no longer distracted.  
          Thanking the Lord for her forethought she pulled the missile launcher out of the bag as silently as she could manage and assembled it, one shot, her only option was one shot then the course would fight back and she would have no chance then. She lined up the shot perfectly, taking a moment to feel regret at the fact that the gunner would die too, she never liked the term “collateral damage” this was a life that she should have spared but couldn’t and that weighed on her. The courses head exploded along with the missile and she smiled, the adrenaline coursing through her veins making her giddy but as it dissolved away she felt pain, shrapnel from the explosion had wedged itself in her side. A woman’s screaming was all she could hear and, dizzy from bloodless she dragged herself over to the sound and freed the caged woman who took one look at her and ran off. As the blackness set in she thought about her son and how she would never see him again, never know the boy he grew up to be, she laid on her back in the mess, conscious that if she fell she didn’t want the two foot long metal to drive itself deeper although she wasn’t too sure why she cared if this was where she died anyway. Her last thought was of Arthur and the rare smiles he gave her, the way his blue eyes lit up when he looked at her, she passed out to an image of those eyes fading into nothingness.

\------------------

          Lorelai must have been in heaven, bloody well should be after everything she’d been through, the last thought, the image of those eyes was her heaven and she gazed up into the icy blue with a weak smile. Only she saw worry there and didn’t know why, if this was heaven there wouldn’t be worry but as a face seemed to form around them it only showed more concern in brows knitted together and a frown on lips surrounded by dark hair, all of which formed from the clouds surrounding her. She became aware of being carried and made to stand but was only gripped tighter, tight enough to draw her attention to the stabbing pain in her side, she heard a noise like a pained cry and the face above her twisted into something she couldn’t read, she realised distantly that the noise had come from her. Then the darkness took her again and everything faded back into the void.

\-------------------

          The first thing she saw was Danse, his back bent at an uncomfortable angle l, his head resting by her arm and his body sat in an uncomfortable looking chair. The room around her swam into view and she decided that it was in fact not heaven but the Prydwen’s simple medical bay and she was laid on an uncomfortable gurney with curtains drawn around her. Danse stirred in his place at her side, a low moan escaping his lips as he sat up and rubbed a hand roughly across his face before noticing she was awake and smiling,  
          “Lorelai” he said softly, his eyes filled with compassion as he looked at her,  
          “Danse” she was shocked that her voice was a dry rasp and looked at the soldier in confusion before accepting a bottle of purified water from him, she gulped it down greedily “thanks... you know that’s the first time you called me Lorelai?”  
          “Some situations call for certain... familiarities” he said, back to his tense, tightly wound self after the briefest of slips “how are you knight?”  
          “I feel... drowsy” she told him, raising a hand to rub her head,  
          “You will, you were given a lot of med-x for the pain” she nodded at this, recognising the light feeling in her bones from the one and only time she had used the chem back in Goodneighbour “Elder Maxson will want to know you’re awake”  
          “Maxson... He... I remember his eyes”  
          “He lead the rescue team himself, I assume because you were after something important?” the soldier was oblivious to the real reason but she would happily keep it that way,  
          “A courser chip, was it recovered, I’d hate to have to do that again”  
          “I believe so yes but I don’t understand why you went off and did this on your own”  
          “Elder Maxson wanted to send someone else, I couldn’t let that happen”  
          “So instead you risked your own life to do it alone disobeying orders in the process?” the handsome soldier looked genuinely angry rather than his usual halfhearted scowl,  
          “Is that what this is really about Danse... orders?”  
          “Lorelai you nearly died, no matter what you think, I care about that far more than insubordination but perhaps you should think about why orders are given as they are”  
          “I’m alive aren’t I? No harm no foul”  
          “You are only alive because Elder Maxson himself charged in to rescue you. You should be very thankful that he would put himself in that much danger in order to find the institute and you should thank your lucky stars he bothered to save you too”  
          “Is he really that heartless, that he would leave a knight behind to die because he couldn’t be bothered” the idea shook her to her spine, she knew she was allowed certain liberties and that Arthur would never leave her behind but would he do that with someone else, someone he thought less worthy of his time?  
          “Of course not but he is an important man, he can’t go rescuing everyone so don’t expect it to happen again, now I’ll leave you to get some sleep” he stood and left her there, with little else to occupy her Lorelai drifted off to sleep only to be plagued by nightmares of Maxson walking past her prone and bleeding body because he didn’t recognise her.

          Waking again to a soft pressure on her forehead her lids fluttered open to see Arthur bent over her a look of serenity on his rugged features,  
          “Good morning sir” she said to him and he laughed,  
          “It’s ok, we’re alone, I sent Cade off with some task or other” she relaxed at his words allowing herself to smile adoringly at him,  
          “Thank you Arthur... For saving me I mean” she attempted to lean up to kiss him but a stabbing pain in her side made her wince and fall back to the bed, he realised what she had tried to do and came to her placing a soft but passionate kiss on her lips that she thought was far too brief,  
          “What were you thinking Lorelai?” he asked, his tone was kind but a little harshness crept in though she was sure it was unintentional,  
          “You wouldn’t let me take Danse and go do it myself”  
          “So you sneak away and do it alone?” he raised an eyebrow at her,  
          “Well next time you should let me take Danse” she tried to fold her arms in front of her but that made the pain worse so she settled for pouting instead,  
          “Next time? When are you planning on doing this again?”  
          “You know what I mean” she continued to pout in his general direction,  
          “I do and it’s duly noted... As is that cute pout, are the drugs messing with your head because I’ve never seen that before” he brought a finger to her lip and with quick reflexes despite the med-x she wrapped her mouth round and bit it only to be rewarded with an animalistic growl and a darkening of his eyes with lust. She let go in slight shock but tucked that one away for later when she felt better,  
          “I’m four years your senior, I don’t pout” she attempted to pick up the conversation again but Maxson only eyed her lecherously, his gaze wader in along her body even if it was covered with a blanket,  
          “I can’t wait until you’re better and I can... punish you for this insubordination” he growled, the thought turning her red, she opened and closed her mouth a few times struggling to find the words but before she could he had stood and left her there looking like a red fish.

\------------------

          To Lorelai’s genuine surprise Arthur visited her every day of her recovery, though some days he was less tender and kind than others, on those days she would tease and cajole him into a better mood. After a week she was well enough to return to her own bunk but still technically on leave, she headed straight to the showers and allowed the warm water to wash away the pain until she could feel sleep tugging at her eyelids.  
          It was on the second day away from Cade’s constant watch that she slipped into Arthur’s quarters early in the morning to find him sat at his terminal angrily bashing keys, he stood and walked towards her when she entered the room,  
          “Have you slept?” she asked him as he towered over her tiny frame,  
          “No and I would have been far more likely to had I not known you had been released from the medical bay but not come to me”  
          “I’m sorry, I just got so tired” she had enough in her to at least look sheepish at him when she knew she had done wrong, although she was a little annoyed that he would just assume she would come to him,  
          “No matter, you’re here now... how are you feeling?”  
          “Actually I’m fine, I think Cade was a bit overly cautious giving me another week off” when she said this his expression changed, turning quickly from concern to burning passion as his eyes rover over her body,  
          “Good” he said quickly before grabbing her by the waist sitting down and pulling her roughly over his knee leaning into her ear he whispered “I still need to show you what to expect if you are insubordinate” she felt a flush of warmth through her body, settling between her thighs and let out a yelp when his hand came in contact with the seat of her jeans and she tried to struggle away from the pain until it left a burning, eroticism sensation in it’s wake. She relaxed into him as he smacked her, pulling a shriek or a moan from her each time, she could feel herself getting wet and couldn’t help but squirm against his knee.  
          After a while she felt a warning stab from her side, it was healing well but still delicate, she struggled against the hold on her shoulders but he held tight “Arthur stop... my side” his hand lifted away from her like it was burnt and after standing she saw a look of regret in his perfect blue eyes. But she wasn’t regretting a moment, she was hot with desire and spread her legs and straddled him, looking deep into those icy blues before kissing him with a desperate need. He responded, wrapping arms around her small hips and nipping at her bottom lip, she groaned as the slight pain left pleasure in it’s wake that made her body shake against his, he growled and pushed his hard erection into her. She felt like they were wearing far too many clothes and peeled hers off as he did the same, looking up and down at each other’s naked bodies. Lorelai would never tire of seeing him like this, his strong form towering over her a smattering of hair over his muscles and lust seeping from every pore. She backed herself up against the wall a devilish smile playing on her lips and he followed, bending over her to kiss and nip at her neck.  
          She ran short nails down his back and he groaned and pulled her into him, feeling their bodies pushed together Lorelai threw back her head and whimpered, his hair tickling her chest and his hard flesh refusing to give way to hers. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him and cried out when he thrust up into her wet core filling her and making her whole. Panting and soft cries turned to screams as he thrust into her, somehow still mindful of the healing scar at her waist as he lost control. She came apart and felt herself shake against him, forcing him over the edge to do the same, they collapsed onto his bed a panting mess of limbs and flesh satiated after their orgasms. Lorelai was happy, she felt safe when his strong body was curled around her and her mind was fuzzy with endorphins... She could think on the consequences later.


	9. When Deacon Met Lorelai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter contains an instance of domestic violence but nothing too graphic and she tells him where to stick it!

          Arthur was shouting at a scribe, something about forgetting to log something, it didn't sound important to her. His face snapped over to her and she rolled her eyes at him, she could tell he was picturing her throat in the fist at his side but she wasn't sure how hard he was imagining squeezing. Lorelai knew she drove the man wild, he was used to all these scurrying things ready to do his bidding at a single word, sometimes just a grunt. She fought him at every step and sometimes it felt like she was the only one that would look him in the eyes no matter how lovely their colour.

  
          Danse stood beside her, ready to speak to his leader as soon as He was done chastising the scribe. Maxson’s hand relaxed and it was like all the rage seeped away as he saw her raise an eyebrow and catch his gaze. He dismissed the poor man before him who looked about ready to give himself thirty lashes and her Paladin stepped forward,  
          “Paladin, Knight” Maxson said with a nod to both of them, his eyes lingering on Lorelai. The two of them spoke for some time and she hung back, a little behind Danse and stared at Arthur making sure to catch every little move of his lips, every moment his eyes darted to hers, every clasp and unclasp of his big fists. Her mind wandered to the courser chip and the fact that every scribe and Proctor had tried to crack it open for the secrets inside and each in turn had failed, it was like the sword in the stone and only the blessed could work their magic on it... so far no one was the chosen one, not even her own Arthur who knew those old legends by heart.

  
          When they were done she went straight to the showers, they were co-ed and she always felt a little shy about using them so would wait until a time when it was likely to be quiet. Sighing at the empty room she slipped off her dirty vault suit and stepped into the cubicle, once surrounded by the metal walls and the swing shut metal door she felt safer. The lukewarm water washed over her and she felt her muscles relax as the mud and stink of the city below washed away. The door to the shower rooms opened, she didn't think anything of it past noting that it had happened. Suddenly her cubicle door swung open and Maxson stood there fully clothed and taking in every inch of her wet body with those blue eyes,  
          “Carry on” he said to her, settling himself down on a chair in front of the open door, holding it that way with a casual foot. She felt a stirring in her groin and her breath hitched,  
          “What if someone sees?” the idea of someone walking in and finding them there, well it made her tingle even more, she had to fight the urge to start removing his clothes  
          “Then I let go of the door, everyone on this ship knows when I have sex, they just don't know it's with you” he gave her a slight raising of the corner of his mouth, the closest thing he did to smiling but somehow it still felt like he was grinning at her in the dirtiest way possible. She lathered up her hair, making sure her back turned to him just so, for him to get the best view of the suds running down her back and over her arse. He shifted in the chair as he watched her wash her arms and chest, stomach and back, he leaned forward as she moved the soap between her legs. His eyes were focused on one thing so she decided to give him a show, she was excited enough just from him watching that she was burning to touch herself anyway. Her middle finger found her clit and she let out a shaky breath as she started to delicately trace a circle around it. He watched, eyes open wide and locked to hers, heavy lidded and closing each time a wave of sensation hit. She was pushing her fingers inside herself and letting little mewling sounds escape when he started to remove his clothes and walked over to her,  
          “Don't stop” he told her putting a finger to each of her nipples and kissing her roughly, pulling soft groans from her mouth with his own, “I bet Danse would never do something like this”  
She stopped and pulled back as far as she could, looking at him shocked,  
          “Why would you say that?” she made sure to lace every word with enough bitterness to really hurt. It made him angry, he'd told her how he still didn’t like the idea of a woman having this much power over him,  
          “We all know he wants you” Maxson said with a scoff, as though the idea of his friend being lovestruck over his lover was funny. Sometimes the man's jealousy and insecurity made him treat his friends like dirt,  
           “We're friends” which was true, they were close friends and she relied on the man for a lot even if she did sometimes catch him eyeing her in just that way,  
           “He doesn't see it like that, maybe you should just go fuck him” by now they were almost shouting hoarsely whilst pretending to whisper at each other. The whole thing seemed to be making him more aroused, his hard cock twitched as they argued,  
          “Maybe I should, he wouldn't start with sex then end with an argument”  
          “He'd probably just roll over and go to sleep, that guy could never make you feel like I do he's an idiot”  
          “He's twice the man you’ll ever be and I'd be an idiot not to see that” the back of Maxson’s hand hit her face with such a force she saw stars and the world turned white for a second. She came to blinking to see his shocked face looking down at her, all anger gone, replaced with regret. She reached up and touched the blood that fell from her nose, it could be broken and she would likely have two black eyes come the morning. In silence she walked over to her towel, ignored him as she dried herself and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. She had one hand on the door back to the Prydwen and the other holding her things when she turned back to him. With every bit of spite and bile in her being she said, “that will be the first time and the last time you will ever lay a hand on me like that. I expect a vertibird to be ready and authorised to take me anywhere I want to go once I am ready to leave”  
          “Will you come back?” he stood there, naked, erect and worried, he looked more like a child than she had ever imagined he could  
          “I don’t know” she left him there like that, her face stinging from the slap.

\---------------

          The vertibird dropped her near Goodneighbour, she knew there was a doctor there who could look at her nose without asking too many questions. It wasn't broken but her face would soon be half bruise, the doctor gave her something to help with the pain and she dropped a few caps in her hand before shouldering her pack and heading away from Goodneighbour. She didn’t even bother stopping in to see Hancock who she imagined would happily start a war if she told him where the quickly forming bruise had come from and that was not a conversation Lorelai wanted right then.  
       

         She wandered for weeks, just helping people, killing things, doing whatever she could to distance herself from the Brotherhood. It was listening in to someone else's conversation in diamond city that she found out about the Railroad… something about a freedom trail that she'd remembered from her previous life. If she never returned to Maxson and the brotherhood she needed another option for finding her son. As it turned out the freedom trail led to old north church, a place she had visited as a child with her parents. She followed splashes of luminescent paint down into the catacombs and entered the word railroad into an ancient looking spinning dial.  
After the wall opened she was met with bright light and an interrogation, as far as she could make out there were three people in the room, two had weapons and flanked the unarmed woman in the middle. Her usually observant eyes couldn’t see past that and she felt bare, helpless. She answered the questions with as little as she could but when a dark haired man appeared and started telling them her entire life's story she got a little more verbal,  
          “How do you know that?” she asked the cocky guy who wore sunglasses despite being indoors and a nondescript outfit of white t-shirt and jeans, not unlike what Lorelai herself wore underneath all her scavenged armour,  
          “It's my job sweet cheeks” she didn’t entirely like being called sweet cheeks by a man she'd never met but his words of praise did seem to work and the lights dimmed and she was brought inside. The place was a mess and cramped and small with low ceilings, the catacombs they called it. She was given the code name Fixer and instructed to follow and learn from Deacon, the guy with the sunglasses who knew everything about her, only now he was bald, she looked at him in shock but he offered her no explanation other than gesturing for her to follow and walking off. Once outside the church he turned to her,  
          “Kid, this is gonna be one wild and crazy ride.... mind if I call you Rory?”  
          “My mum called me that” why was she telling him? She didn’t ever talk about her parents to anyone, it was a touchy subject,  
          “It's cool then Rory?” he was so immediately familiar with her, they started walking she had no idea where they were headed so just followed “by the way, I'm a synth, you should probably have my recall code, just in case something bad happens… only don't read it unless it really is an emergency”  
          “Sure” he handed her a piece of scrap paper and she opened it and read it immediately “you can't trust everyone”  
          “Woooh woooh woooh, hahahaha sorry Rory… how did you know?” he asked, honestly surprised that she had picked up on his lie,  
          “I tend to notice things, I could tell you were lying, it was in your stance and your voice, subtle but not unnoticeable” again she hadn't told anyone that before, was he just pulling confessions out of her?

\---------------

          It was a two day hike to where they were headed, Deacon told her nothing about it until they got there. She could tell he was on edge no matter how much he joked about, this was something important, something special. The whole thing went by without a hitch, even though she almost cried for him when Deacon saw his friends dead on the floor again and again and the only tell that he had was a slight twitch to his right eye that she could only see from the right angle. No wonder he wore those sunglasses, they covered his one and only almost imperceptible give away.

          The next few weeks she worked with Deacon, there were questions and they traded tales and she couldn't help getting caught up in his flirty antics. Every time a vertibird flew overhead she ducked into the nearest cover and he watched her questioningly. Eventually he just gave in and asked,  
          “So you worked for the brotherhood but you hide every time they fly over… what gives Rory?”  
          “It's nothing” she didn't want to talk about it, when they'd first met the bruises were still there on her face, now they had faded but the memory hadn’t. She'd been looking into her lovers eyes when he'd hit her, she saw a burning passion, a great need in there. She would still touch herself to the memory of that moment, she'd never been wanted like that but she was ashamed to admit how she felt, that she had let herself fall for a an who would do that to her in the first place. Her emotions were all over and couldn’t be pinned down so of course she wasn’t about to explain the whole damn mess to this flirty spy,  
          “Nahh it's something, I can tell” he wouldn't let this go and he always had a way of wheedling the truth from her. She'd compromise, tell him the truth but not all of it,  
          “I skipped out on them, they tend to take that sort of thing pretty seriously” it was the truth and, after studying her face for a while Deacon accepted it,  
          “Well you're safe with this big hunk of man meat looking after you babe” he flexed his barely there muscles at her and she cooed with mock attraction, happy that that line of questioning seemed to have been dropped. After a while she began to trust him and opened up about her real story, about Shaun and her quest for the institute, at the mention of the courser chip he brightened up,  
          “Tinker Tom should have that open in a second” he said, taking her hand and pulling her in the vague direction of the church. Lorelai was dubious, the scribes had all tried to decode the damn thing and each had given up but Tinker Tom surprised her when, not ten minutes after starting he handed her a scrap of paper with the code written on it. Not even bothering to hide her surprise she made sure to put it somewhere safe for later, giving Deacon the chance to laugh and say I told you so.

\------------------

          It wasn’t until a week later that they found her, the two of them were, thankfully, on the long trek back from a successful mission. She was tired and when she heard the vertibird approach it was too late, they landed on a debris free patch blocking their intended path. Deacon stood protectively in front of her while two knights she remembered vaguely having seen aboard the ship charged up to them. Their laser pistols were raised at her and Deacons heads he pointed a gun at them but really they were helpless against it no matter what promises he had made about protecting her,  
          “Deeks, it's ok” she laid a gentle hand on his forearm, he looked from the hand up into her face,  
          “I said I'd protect you” he said so quietly it was almost a whisper, she forced him with a gentle push to lower his weapon,  
          “I’ll go with you” she said sadly to the two Knights that had their weapons trained on the two of them “but he's free to leave”  
          “What are you going to do to her?” Deacon asked, his voice heavily laced with concern and his eyes flicking between the two brotherhood soldiers in front of them,  
          “We were just asked to bring her in if we see her, every vertibird pilot was told to be on the lookout” just like Arthur to put the whole damn brotherhood on high alert just to bring back his favourite toy.  
          “If any one of you hurts her-”  
          “Deeks” she cut him off before he said something he’d regret “just go home, I'll be back as soon as I can”  
          She followed the two of them aboard the vertibird, their guns still trained on her head. Once aboard they relaxed their hold on them and she resigned herself to what was about to happen.

\--------------------

          The vertibird pilot had radioed ahead and mentioned that they have her so Danse was waiting for on the deck. She didn't say hello, didn’t even look at him just charged past and onwards to where she knew Maxson would be. There were people in the room with him, Proctor Ingram and a few other squires, she didn't care she just charged on in, right up until she was stood no more than a foot away from the wall of Maxson,  
          “HOW DARE YOU HAVE ME BROUGHT IN AT GUNPOINT” she yelled right into his face, anger swelled in his face for a moment then it was gone,  
          “may I have a moment alone with this insubordinate Knight” he asked the rest of the room, not taking his eyes off her for a second. Everyone else filed out but Danse waited behind, Maxson reluctantly looked over at him,           “Is there a problem Paladin?”  
          “I think that if you intend to punish a knight I sponsored I should be present sir” oh god Danse, read the room, Lorelai thought but didn't say instead Elder Maxson spoke, authority ringing in his voice,  
           “I will not punish her unduly and you will see no repercussions from this yourself Paladin… dismissed” Danse saluted and walked away begrudgingly, when the Elder turned around he was her Arthur again, he looked at her softly and lowered his voice “I didn’t mean to have them bring you in at gunpoint, the order was to simply bring you in”  
          “Well your toy soldiers always were an overzealous bunch” she matched his almost whisper, her anger had softened a little but she still remembered the look on Deacons face when he'd let her go “they almost shot my friend because he was protecting me”  
          “Does your friend know the full truth?” he asked her, taking a small step closer and making her heart flutter, softening her resolve,  
          “No, he doesn't but that's not the point, he still didn't deserve being shot by one of your men” she lifted her head up to face his, her lips falling open just a little, Arthur moved his gaze from her eyes to those lips.  
          “How can I get you to forgive me?”  
          “For what, almost causing my friend to get shot or giving me a bruise that took three weeks to heal” if he wasn’t going to bring up the real cause of this whispered fight then she would  
          “I am so sorry and you know how hard it is for me to admit that I'm wrong”  
          “At least you can spot one of your many glaring flaws” she moved around so that her body was blocking the view of part of his from outside, so no one could see her lifting a hand and reaching inside his coat to lay it there on his stomach,  
          “I will do anything to make you forgive me” he whispered, the desperation showing in his eyes,  
          “See now there's your problem, you want to MAKE me forgive you, that sounds so… forceful… possessive. You should be trying to get me to want to forgive you, not making me”  
           “How do I do that then?” her fingers ran down his stomach to the bulge in his pants, already getting hard,  
          “I want you to make love to me, later, in your room, slow and passionate and gentle. I want you to kiss my body, worship it, prove to me that you can have the self control to do that, to make it all about me”  
          “Anything” he gently thrust his hips so that his hardening cock slid further into her hands. There was a sound behind them, someone clearing their throat, her hand quickly snapped back to her side hoping that whoever it was hadn’t seen what she was doing. She turned to see Proctor Quinlain stood behind them, looking like he was wondering why they were both stood there in silence,  
           “Dismissed Knight” Maxson said to her before he turned irritably towards the Proctor, and snapped “what do you want Quinlain”  
She left them to it, ready to sneak back to Maxson’s quarters as soon as the ship had quietened enough that no one would see her slip in.

\--------------------

Lorelai waited restlessly for the rest of the ships inhabitants to finish work and head to their own bunks. She tossed and turned on her bed thinking about what was waiting for her. Finally all seemed quiet, the beds around her were full, she could hear occasional curses from Ingram in the armoury below and the last of the showers had stopped. She put her bare feet down on the floor and tiptoed towards Arthur’s room, pushing the door open gently. He was sat in a chair by the table, glass of whiskey in his hand, he rose and moved close when he saw her,  
          “You aren't hurt at all are you?” he asked, running a single lock of her hair between his fingers,  
          “Why do you ask that?” she raised a hand to put it on his stomach like she had earlier that day,  
          “Well, you were gone for so long, I had no idea… anything could have happened” she hadn’t realised just how much he cared for her, her eyes widened and she looked up into the deep expanse of blue that were his irises,                       “Don’t look so shocked, I care about you, the only reason I had the patrols looking for you is because I wanted you safe”  
           “I can be safe away from you” he looked hurt for a moment ,  
          “I know, but I wouldn't have known if you'd…. been hurt” he really was concerned, she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him, surprised when he was gentle and let her lead. He put and hand up and rested it softly on the nape of her neck as they kissed. After that he took her hand and led her over to his bed, he laid on his back and pulled her over so she was straddling him. She was wearing t-shirts and jeans, the same exact one she had worn the first time they kissed. He lifted it up and over her head then began fondling her chest over her bra, still he was gentle in a way she hadn't expected. She reached behind and unclasped her bra, her breasts, once freed, fell into his waiting hands. He ran his thumbs over each of her nipples and it sent a shiver down her spine, she let out a happy sigh and he cupped her large breasts in each hand.

          She felt her insides tighten as he ran a hand down the front of her stomach and hooked his fingers into the top of her jeans. She helped him by unbuttoning them for him, he easily lifted her with one hand under her arse and pulled off her jeans and knickers together, replacing her over him. He stared at her naked body, running his hands over her skin before sitting up to plant kisses all over her.

          Once he had kissed every inch of her chest and arms and stomach he lifted her again and laid her face down on the bed. She gasped as he lay a trail of hot kisses down her spine and over her shoulders, on each of her hips and the nipped in waist she was so proud of. She had never felt more like a goddess than as he kissed her all over ending with her laid on her back and his face between her legs. He planted last kisses on each of her inner thighs before turning to her wet pussy, he stiffened his tongue and swirled the tip of it around her clit, she arched her back and drew in a sharp breath. His fingers slid inside her, first one and then two and worked her whilst his tongue continued circling her clit. Before long she was keening and writhing her hands threaded in his hair holding down his head, or trying to anchor her in this universe she wasn’t quite sure which. She came with a gentle rolling of her hips and waves of sweet sensation lapping over her, it wasn’t a screaming mind numbing orgasm it was gentle and left her satisfied and comfortable.

  
          He wasn’t done though, standing to remove his own clothes he laid himself over her and entered her with a gentle push. He leaned down to kiss her chest or her lips or collar bones as he slowly slipped in and out of her. She was soon panting and covered in a thin film of sweat as she groaned underneath him. He picked her up and laid back down on the bed, putting her once again over him. She lowered herself down onto him with a whimper and started moving her hips in slow rolling motions. Arthur closed his eyes and groaned as he filled her and sighed as she moved away. In the end it was her who lost control, moving faster and faster until they both were brought to a screaming orgasm together. She flopped at his side and he wrapped his arms around her from behind, naturally the big spoon when she was so much smaller than him,  
          “I have to admit I enjoyed that” he told her, a smile in his voice that she was too exhausted to turn around and see,  
          “A nice change from the usual pace?”  
          “Yes, we should maybe make love more often… even when I'm not apologising for something” she laughed and wound her fingers into his, like that they fell asleep.


	10. Maxson Catches Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai lets her feelings slip and Maxson doesn't know how to handle it, so he runs away... it's almost like he's a 20 year old man or something!

          She had been away from the Prydwen for a while, helping the railroad with Deacon under the pretence of looking for technical documents and fusion cores. She'd still picked up quite a lot of these things but she'd helped a lot of synths escape to a new life too. Deacon threw something at her without warning, it bounced off her head and landed on the floor with a soft thud,  
          “Ow… bit if warning next time” she looked at his grinning face then down at the box of fancy lads snack cakes on the ground,  
          “God Rory you've got terrible reflexes, no offence babe but some of the skeletons in the catacombs can do better than that” she scoffed at him and rolled her eyes,  
          “Is this your way of telling me you want to stop for lunch?” he nodded and grinned at her so they stopped in a nearby bus shelter and sat on the bench to eat “how come you…. Do what you do Deeks?” she really wanted to know what had happened to this happy go lucky guy to make him spy on people for the sake of synths, he looked at her and sighed, by now he knew he couldn’t lie to her without her spotting it immediately, Lorelai got the feeling he hated that she could do that,  
          “My wife was a synth” she believed him immediately, the way his voice broke told her that this was the hardest truth he had ever told,      
          “What happened to her?” it was the only thing she could think to ask,  
          “We didn't know until we were trying for kids, that's when a doctor told us, word got out and gang of synth haters beat her to death”  
          “Oh god Deeks”  
          “I'm not exactly squeaky clean here hon, I used to run with them, back before I met her. It all started out pretty small, vandalism and stuff but then we found a guy we thought was a synth. Mob mentality kicked in, I knew it was wrong but I helped smash his brains in… to this day I don’t know if he was a synth or not, not that that matters anymore”  
          “What happened to the gang?” his voice was so wrought and she would give anything to take away that pain, but she had to know the rest,  
          “I killed them, shot every single one. Listen, Des, they tracked me down because of what happened to my wife, and my reaction to it but she still doesn’t know I used to run with them”  
          “You know Deeks, I think she probably does know and she knows that that isn't you anymore, you learned from it” she gave him a soft smile, his face turned from her and to the ground at his feet,  
          “I don’t deserve you being ok with this”  
          “Past is past, we've all made stupid mistakes” she could think of a few of her own right now, she knew she was probably making one big beautiful mistake in particular,  
          “Like joining the Brotherhood?” did he just read her mind?  
          “They helped me when I needed it the most, believe it or not I wasn’t always this awesome”  
          “I believe it” she laughed and gave him a quick smack on the shoulder,  
          “Speaking of, I should head up there and hand these over, don't want them getting suspicious” they had just been on the way back to HQ so she thought there was no better time to disappear and show her face at the Prydwen,  
          “No we wouldn’t want a bunch of psychopaths getting suspicious” she just rolled her eyes and started off on the hike back to the airport.

\----------------

          For once Danse wasn't there to greet her as soon as she landed on the deck of the Prydwen. She headed towards Quinlain with the technical documents, a path that meant she had to pass the flight deck, Maxson’s usual spot. She saw him there, his back to her and took a moment to admire the view before attempting to sneak off,  
          “Knight Thomson” she heard a stern voice shout, so she hadn't managed to sneak past him then,  
          “Yes sir” she said, forgoing the salute, which she hated, “what can I do for you?”  
          “Meet me in my quarters in ten minutes” he whispered before raising his voice to cover himself saying “try to remember to salute Knight, and smarten up, that vault suit isn't brotherhood issue, dismissed”

  
          She rushed to Quinlain’s office and dumped the papers out on his desk and pretty much ran to Maxson’s quarters, she had to bend and pretend to rummage through her pack before opening the door when a nosy scribe had left the corridor. He was stood in just his cargo pants waiting for her, he charged over, pulling her in and almost slamming the door and pinned her against it pulling her legs up and around his waist. He kissed her hungrily and pulled at the zip on the front of her vault suit, slipping it roughly down to her waist. The hair on his chest tickled her as he lifted her further up, pulling her bra off her shoulders and down to her waist he pulled at one nipple with his teeth, she let out a cry. She could so easily hear people milling around on the other side of the thin pane of metal and she knew that each time she let out a desperate noise they could hear her. As he tweaked and nipped at her breasts she let out shaking moans and panting groans until the man who ordered about thousands of people lost control due to one woman's cry. He turned and threw her onto the bed where she quickly wriggled out of her clothes as he did the same. Then he was on her, putting her on the bed on all fours he entered her from behind with a quick thrust, she yelped and he thrust again, scream, thrust, whine, thrust, each time he moved she let out a cry that just spurred him on until, in a great crescendo he grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head up, her back straight as they both reached screaming climax. He helped her to lay down on the bed, pulling her to him so that her head rested on his chest,  
          “You know someone's going to put two and two together” she said after a fair while laid against him, a blabbering mess,  
          “Hummm?” he made a lazy, questioning sound in her general direction,  
          “That every time I come back there's sex noises from your room…. You know…. Lorelai’s on board, sex noises…. Lorelai’s away, no sex noises” then a realisation hit her like a kick “unless… there’s… others”  
          “Others?” it took him a moment to realise what she had said, when he twigged on his back stiffened “oh, you mean other women”  
          “Yes I mean other women, we never really discussed the whole idea of… well… being exclusive”  
          “Are there other men I have to kill?”  
          “No there aren't but why do you jump straight to killing?”  
          “No man touches what's mine and lives”  
          “But how would they know, we've been doing pretty well at keeping this secret so far”  
          “They would still have to die”  
          “Are... are you joking or are you actually serious? I honestly can't tell”  
          “Hummm… a little of both I think”  
          “So there are other women, you have a harem or something?” he'd been doing anything to avoid answering the question,  
          “Why do you say that?” there again, avoiding the question with another question,  
          “It's really ok if you have, but… well it’s only fair that I get to as well”  
          “There are no other women, haven't been in quite some time”  
          “Why were you avoiding the question then?”  
          “To wind you up” she gave him a light smack on the arm in chastisement,  
          “Why Elder Maxson you do have a sense of humour under there somewhere, even if it is a bit twisted”  
          “I hide it well” he said, pulling her closer,  
          “I love you” she said with a soft laugh before sitting up her back ram rod straight when she realised just what she had said “… oh shit”  
          “What?” he sat up and leaned in over her, his eyes wide with horror,  
          “I didn’t… well I meant… well… I do… I love you but… it sort of just slipped out” Maxson was quiet for some time before simply saying,  
          “I should return to the flight deck, it is the middle of the day” her heart dropped and it took every ounce of concentration not to let it show on her face.

\-----------------

          Danse, as usual was in the power armour hanger, shining his suit until it gleamed like a mirror. Lorelai walked towards him and perched her bum on the edge of a work surface to watch him. He looked up at her and smiled, see some people would smile at her just, not the one she wanted to. He finished what he was doing and stood to face her, wiping grease from his hands with a dirty rag,  
          “You think I'm attractive right Danse?” she needed someone to give her the approval she so needed, here was Danse, no matter how she adored him as a friend it was like having Maxson lite by her side,  
          “Um… I… well… yes… yes I do” he stuttered, she kind of loved his big blushing face and the way he was all left feet when it came to anything sexual,  
          “And I'm fun to be around?” he blushed all the deeper at this,  
          “Well, yes you are” he couldn’t look her in the eye “where exactly is this going Knight Thomson?”  
          “Please Danse, it's Lorelai and… well I told someone how I feel about them and they just… ran away”  
          “Someone aboard the ship? I'm sure I can speak to them, one soldier to another”  
          “No, no not aboard the ship” she had to squash that idea right away with an easily slipped lie (Deacon had been teaching her a few things about the lying and the half truths that were his trade), “someone else, a civilian”  
          “Well that is different, I suppose give it time, they might realise soon just how amazing you are Lorelai”  
          “You used my name” she beamed at him,  
          “Well the situation called for it” he grinned at her, his big puppy dog grin and she realised how lucky she was to have Danse as a friend.

\-----------------

          The next few days Lorelai avoided Maxson as much as she could, every time she spotted him she left the room and went to the other end of the ship. She was helping others prep for their missions and waiting to get one herself until the signal interceptor had been built to take her to the institute, she thought maybe Maxson was keeping her there so he could try to catch her. She stepped out onto her favourite spot on the forecastle and gulped down the cold air up there, the point of the ship itself stood out over the city. She dropped her legs over the edge and sat with her chin on the railing and sighed to herself.  
The door opened softly, she knew who it was, only he could make so little noise and be so big,  
          “Hello Arthur” she heard a laugh from behind her,  
          “How did you know it was me?” he asked, his voice light with happiness,  
          “I know you Arthur… I suppose you caught me”  
          “I did, finally. All I've seen of you for days is your back as you run away from me” he lowered himself to sit next to her, his feet dangling off the edge too. “do you have time to talk?”  
          “Well I'm pretty much stuck here with you”  
          “I… don’t know how to say this… but I'm not good at… emotions” he seemed so, fragile like the young man he was,  
          “You don't have to say anything you don't want to” she honestly didn’t want a lie,  
          “I care for you but… love… it's not really something I understand”  
          “You don't have to say anything… but, when you are ready… if you are ever ready will you tell me?”  
          “Yes, I've never felt… anything like this for anyone before and you didn’t exactly fall in line with my plans”  
          “You can't exactly plan for something like…. this” Maxson pulled her face to his and kissed her gently and slowly. Lorelai turned herself around and pushed him down and threw her legs over him, her legs either side of his. He put his hands onto her hips and started her moving above him, the friction against her felt wonderful and sent shooting impulses through her that made her move them more. Maxson undid her jeans and pulled them down to her knees, reaching between her legs and rubbing her through the thin cotton of her knickers. Her hips twitched and twisted and she let out a peeling keen which just made him rub harder. He slipped his fingers past the edge of her panties and pushed them into her wetness there, her hips kicked out with a cry.

  
         Maxson lifted her and slipped her jeans down, leaving them around one ankle, he reached to the zip of his own cargo pants and pulled out his penis slipping her down onto it. Her hips kicked and moved and she breathed in ragged hitching gasps as he reached up and tucked his hands under her t-shirt, pushing her bra above her breasts and cupping them. He worked her nipples between her fingers and the sensation jumped straight to her crotch and she moved her hips faster. She pushed her hands onto his chest under his clothes and felt the strong muscles of his torso as she moaned she raked her nails down his flesh. He thrust his hips into her and groaned himself, she felt her insides tighten and the pressure building pulled her head back and she screamed into the sky as she came. The spasming twitches of her body pulled him to climax and with a similar cry he spilled himself inside her.

  
         The two of them laid there in each others arms, their legs dangling off the edge of the platform. It slowly occurred to her that they had to sneak back without anyone noticing,  
         “One of us has to go first so we don't let everyone aboard know what we've been doing” she lifted her head and looked him in the eyes, he looked serious  
         “I will go first, everyone usually scatters away when I walk about with an angry look on my face, though it might be hard to frown right now” she laughed at him as he untangled from her and stood up,  
         “Elder” she saluted him from where she laid on the floor “dismissed” he made his way out of the door and she pulled her clothes back into place and waited a few moments before following him.

\-----------------

          Lorelai jumped off the vertibird in one leap and hit the deck of the Prydwen, Danse landing behind her not long after. She was happy for the first time in a while, she'd enjoyed the mission they'd just returned from. Clearing supermutants from an old scrap yard she'd found a missile launcher and some missiles, Danse had grinned at her as she hit the big green bastards and they exploded, showering the two of them in blood and chunks. She wanted to head to the showers and put her vault suit straight in the wash, ideally she would have done this without anyone seeing her but there was little chance of that. As she headed towards the shower the Paladin put a hand on her shoulder,  
          “Where do you think you're going Knight?” he asked, moving his hand in order to turn her around to face him,  
          “Going to shower, what did you expect?” she said in a cheeky voice, sticking her tongue out at him,  
          “You have to come with me to the debriefing, and don't give me that sass Knight Thomson” he looked at her sternly as he spoke and his seriousness made her laugh,  
          “I would never sass you Danse, and it’s Lorelai” she giggled at him,  
          “Not aboard the Prydwen it isn't, here you are my subordinate an I will call you knight” oh god she couldn’t help but laugh at the twitch above his eyebrow “stop laughing and follow me to see the Elder”  
          “Maxson?” she stopped laughing immediately at the mention of his name, the idea of him seeing her blood splattered and muddy cut her mirth short,  
          “You will refer to the Elder as Elder Maxson if at all, he is after all the head of the West Coast Brotherhood” in her mind she thought about how many times she'd cried out his first name, Arthur, with a scream… well Danse was none the wiser, too wrapped up in protocol and orders to notice what was right in front of him,  
          “I can't see him like this”  
          “I doubt he will care about seeing you like that, he has far more important things to worry about than how you look” her funny handsome paladin always did miss the point. Fine, it looked like there was no way of getting out of this, she'd just have to face Arthur like this.

  
          The second she stepped into the room Arthur’s eyes found her, he looked her up and down, taking in the mess all over her. She spotted the corner of his lip twitch up for one second, almost a brief smile then his eyes met hers and she felt a twitch in her knickers at the subtle look of arousal there. Well it seems he must like her covered in blood, he always was a bit... sick. She decided to play with this and took a small step backwards placing herself out of Danse’s view. Checking that the Paladin wasn’t looking at her she slipped a finger into the collar of her vault suit and touched her collarbone. Slipping her hand lower she pulled the fabric aside revealing a little more skin to the Elder, his pupils dilated, his eyes looking almost black as he stared at her fingers running along the top of her breast. Danse was busy talking away and didn’t notice the man's nostrils flare as he started to pant just a little, not noticing a word that the Paladin said.

  
          Lorelai became braver, taking a chance at Danse seeing what she was doing by running one hand across her breast to briefly pinch her nipple. Licking her lips she walked her fingers down her stomach, reaching her hip bone, Arthur’s eyes followed hungrily getting wider for a second each time she touched the blood on her suit. The way he looked at her made her more courageous and she moved her fingers to touch herself between the legs, her muscles tensing under her fingers as she watched him grind his teeth. She bit her lip as the friction of the cloth against her sensitive skin, moved gently by her fingers, sent a shiver through her body. Arthur’s face was turning red as he watched her, his expression telling her he would soon loose control,  
          “Elder Maxson?” Danse’s voice cut into their little world and pulled Arthur’s attention from her with a subtle shake of his head “Elder Maxson did you hear me?”  
Lorelai snapped her hand back to her side and looked wide eyed at the back of the Paladins head,  
          “Please could you repeat that Paladin” Maxson said suddenly calm and looking at the man with his usual stern demeanour. She sighed with relief that she hadn’t been caught but god she loved the excitement of the whole thing. The two men talked for some time before finishing then Maxson dismissed them, walking over to Lorelai and leaning in as close as he dared to whisper in her ear,  
          “My quarters, now,” he hissed at her through gritted teeth,  
          “I need to shower” she argued in a hushed tone,  
          “Don’t. You. Dare” he said, each word whispered, enunciating every syllable, her chest heaved and her heart fluttered at this, she bit her lip and nodded.

\-----------------

          Knocking lightly at his door she didn’t wait for an answer before pushing it open and finding him stood waiting for her. Without a word he grabbed her hair, turned her around and pushed her into the door,  
          “I love seeing you all dirty” he growled, leaning in to her ear and, resting his chin on her shoulder he pushed his body in to her,  
          “Maybe I should get dirtier more often” she pulled on her zip so he could pull it off her shoulders, sinking his teeth into her flesh, she cried out from the sharp pain,  
          “I would happily assist” he ran his hands over her back, lifting them to the collar of her suit and pulling it the rest of the way to her waist,  
          “Isn't that what you're doing now?” she shook and moaned as he grabbed her waist roughly and dug his nails into her hips,  
          “You have no idea” he pulled the suit down the rest of her body leaving her stood, pinned by his frame in just her white underwear,  
          “Got plans for me then?” she pushed her hips back, squashing her soft backside against him, he pulled at her hair and untangled it from the bun it was in so that it tumbled down over his shoulders and down his back,  
          “Many, you and I can look forward to a lot of fun” she wriggled against him, feeling his erection growing. His hands reached into her knickers,  
          “No, let me, I want to kneel in front of you” he gave her one last nip on the shoulder before releasing her, she turned and slipped down to her knees in front of him. He struggled with shaking hands to undo the buckles on his flight suit, “Arthur, I want you”

  
          His penis jumped free of the suit as it dropped to the floor, Lorelai looked up at him her skin jumping into goosebumps as their eyes locked together. She took his cock in her hands and touched her tongue to the tip, feeling the taste of precum there. Still keeping eye contact she took him into her mouth, sucking gently on half of his long shaft. Closing her eyes she breathed in and let him slip down the back of her throat, her lips touching his sternum as he was buried to the hilt in her,  
          “Fuck Lorelai” he spat, his hips shaking, he wound his fingers in her hair and held her head in place, then started moving himself inside her fucking her throat slowly. She felt herself gagging as he sped up, thrusting in and out of her mouth this spurred him on. After a few hard thrusts he pulled back, a trail of spit leading from his cock to her tongue, she gasped for air. He bent and held her chin, roughly lifting her to face him and fixing her with the dirtiest grin,  
          “More?” he asked, she nodded and wrapped her mouth around his shaft again, he thrust into her until she chocked then pulled himself away again. Her hot cunt was burning for him and she could feel wetness soaking through her knickers. She moved her hand to touch herself, his eyes flicked to her hand and he pulled her up with one of his strong arms. Grabbing her panties he pulled them off her and lowered her onto his cock, she wrapped her legs around him and started to move her hips keening loudly and throwing her head back. Maxson grabbed her hair again and pulled her head until their eyes met and he could watch her face twisting and her mouth falling open as she groaned,  
           “I want you to come for me” he thrust his hips forward, pushing himself deeper inside her, she yelled out in stabbing pleasure “I want you to scream my name”  
           “Arthur” she moaned her hips jutting against him, arms and legs wrapped around him whilst he held her up in one hair covered arm,  
           “Now that's not screaming is it?” he tugged her hair and thrust into her again,  
           “Arthur” she closed her eyes and shouted, her head pushing back against the hand in her hair, she continued to wriggle on his dick whimpering,  
           “Not quite there” another thrust and the muscles of her vagina tightened and relaxed throbbing around him, she could feel the well known pressure building in her,  
           “Arthur” she whispered, leaning into him and pressing her lips to his ear,  
           “I said scream” one last thrust and she came undone,  
           “ARTHUR” she screamed her legs squeezed his waist then fell shaking beside him, her whole body spasming. He bellowed and came inside her as she shook and mewled against his neck. Laying her down on the bed he wrapped the blanket around her and cleaned himself, getting dressed. Once she'd recovered herself she looked up at him sat beside her on the bed,  
           “Am I allowed to shower now?” she questioned him, one eyebrow raising,  
           “If you must, you can use mine, just through there” he pointed at a door in the corner she had never been through,  
           “If you have a private shower then why have I been using the crew ones?” she looked at him demanding an answer,  
           “You never asked” she laughed at him and untwisted herself from the blanked and headed to the shower.

          After the best shower she'd had since the bombs fell Lorelai was stood in the mess hall a drink in her hand. She hoped she could have a quiet drink but it was rare thing to manage aboard the ship. A couple of knights approached her, one a young looking lady and the other a good looking young man, the girl smiled at her,  
          “Knight” she said with a nod “you're sponsored by Paladin Danse right?”  
          “Yes” she watched the way the girl looked at her but what really drew Lorelai’s attention was the man stood behind her, he looked her up and down his eyes undressing her,  
          “What's he like?” she wasn’t sure how to answer this, she knew a million little things about Danse but didn’t expect this girl was interested in that,  
          “He's… nice” this didn't seem to be enough for the girl and she looked a bit disappointed,  
          “He's very good looking, you must get distracted by him all the time” Lorelai wrinkled her nose at this, Danse was like a brother to her, yes she could see just how good looking he was but that was it. She stayed quiet and, to fill the silence the girl started telling her about the gossip on board, eventually getting to the question Lorelai had been dreading,  
          “Oh and the Elder has a woman, any guesses who it could be? My money's on proctor Ingram, that woman could do to release some stress. What do you think?” Lorelai shrugged trying not to show the relief she felt as the Knight went on gossiping. After she decided she wasn’t getting much from the quiet Lorelai she excused herself and wandered away. The man behind her stayed though,  
          “You’re very lovely you know knight, what's your name?” he moved closer as he asked this and his gaze moved from her face down to her chest,  
          “Lorelai” she felt rather than saw Maxson entering the room, he moved to the other side of the room and positioned himself where he could watch her,  
          “That’s a lovely name” his hand moved onto her forearm, a gentle flirty touch, she glanced at Maxson and noticed his face harden,  
          “Thank you” she said turning to look back at the Knight in front of her, he moved his hand a little, starting to rub up and down her forearm,  
          “Can I get you a drink?” he asked her, she lifted her full glass to show him and he nodded “when you finish then, I'd like to… get to know you better Lorelai”  
          “What would that entail?” she asked, Maxson had noticed his hand slowly moving up her arm and his lips were pressed together in anger,  
          “Maybe a walk together around the ship or down in the airport, a few drinks?” he took a lock of her hair in his hand, Maxson’s eyes almost bulged with anger,  
          “That sounds nice but I'm not interested” he wouldn't let up despite the hint and laid his hand on her shoulder looking her in the eyes, she flicked her gaze to Maxson at the other side of the room, he looked like he was thinking about standing up his legs lifting onto the balls of his feet to stop himself,  
          “How come? I'm a very open to suggestions” his hand moved to rest against her neck, Maxson couldn’t take it any longer and leapt up, catching the table and spilling drinks everywhere. Lorelai watched as people around asked him if he was alright, he brushed them off and strode in her direction. She felt a pull on the back of her neck, her new “friend” was pulling her in to kiss her,  
          “Um… no” she said, pulling away from him. In a second Maxson was stood behind the Knight and he followed her eyes turning to see the angry face of his Elder glaring at him, his eyes pure fury, the poor Knight who had just tried to kiss her almost melted in fear,  
          “Is this man bothering you Knight” his eyes flicked to her and held her gaze, she felt an excited flutter,  
          “No sir” she said “we were just…. talking sir”  
          “May I have a word knight?” he didn’t remove his eyes from hers for a second until after she had nodded, then he led her to the nearest quiet spot and turned to her,  
          “I couldn't stand watching him put his hands on you” he whispered to her, pulling her in closer and holding her at the waist,  
          “He was nice…”  
          “You're mine” he interrupted her she rolled her eyes at him even though his possessiveness made her stomach twist in delicious ways,  
          “If you'd listen, he was nice but not anything like you” she looked him in the eye and moved her body closer to him,  
          “He wouldn’t fuck you like I do” he grabbed an arse cheek in one of his big hands and lifted her, pulling her jeans off in one movement and wrapping her legs around him. He moved forwards, slamming her against the wall, she could hear people milling about above and that made her all the more nervous... and aroused.  
          “Are you going to remind me?” he undid his fly and pulled his underwear down to his knees freeing his cock. Using his one free hand he moved her underwear aside and thrust straight into her drawing out a strangled moan from her lips,  
         “Is that enough of a reminder?” he started to thrust in and out of her she gasped with every move of his hips,  
         “If I say… ooooohh god….yes… yes...will you...stop…. mmm” she could barely get out the words between shooting sensations of pleasure as he fucked her hard and fast,  
         “Couldn’t… uuuu… stop if… I tried” he buried his cock up to the hilt inside her and held his breath to keep from shouting out as he came. Feeling him spill deep in her cunt made her quiver and shake as she came around him, her legs slipping to the floor a high pitched keen escaping her tight lips,  
         “Remember that you're mine” Maxson whispered into her ear before tucking himself away, handing her jeans to her and leaving. She pulled her jeans on and sat on a nearby storage crate, she didn’t really understand why but she felt tears run down her cheeks, the unexpected sadness suddenly overwhelmed her and she buried her head in her hands and cried. She thought about going to Maxson’s quarters, having him hold her until the tears had subsided but something in the back of her head told her not to. She waited until the worst had passed and slipped off to bed where she curled up in a ball and cried herself to sleep, still not entirely sure why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK sooooo... lots of smut in this chapter... like 4 smuts... many many smuts for you filthy people, because I haven't posted on this one in a while and I love ya!


	11. Deacon Gets Some New Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deacon finds out Lorelai's big bad secret, there's a lot of yelling

          He pushed her down onto the table, the glasses they’d been drinking from smashed to the floor and the bottle fell, spilling whiskey all over the black hair that spilled around her. His eyes burned, making her cheeks flush as he looked down at her clothes, almost willing them off her,  
          “You’ve been working with the railroad” it was the first time he’d spoken since she’d knocked on his door and he’d simply poured her a drink. So that’s what the problem was this time, it was always something. He didn’t like her closeness to his subordinate Danse, he didn’t like the way she thought about ghouls as people, he didn’t like the kindness and caring she showed to the people of the Commonwealth at her own expense. She often wondered why he liked her at all or if he even did, this time he’d snapped when she looked at him in that specific way, almost a roll of the eyes after they’d sat there so long in silence. He’d leapt from his chair and grabbed her, bringing her back down hard on the table,  
          “And if I have?” she looked at him defiantly but his eyes were not on her face, instead roaming hungrily around her body,  
          “They can’t help you like the brotherhood can” he leaned over her, pressing her hands in the spilt alcohol and using his hard body to pin her down so that his furious face was just inches from hers, she couldn’t move more than a slight wriggle of her legs to try and free them. He grinned as her hips moved under him in an attempt to unpin herself, it wasn’t a nice smile, those were a rarity. He pushed a knee in to part her legs, shifting until he was between her and with his free hand he pulled on the zip of her vault suit, freeing her breasts, that morning he’d been in a playful mood and ordered her to remove her underwear before putting on the tight fitted blue jumpsuit. She knew her undergarments were somewhere in his room, hidden and so her chest came spilling from the suit soft and firm and bare, he liked that and dragged a groan from her as he ran a thick calloused thumb over one nipple, the feeling of roughness against her delicate skin made her unwillingly arch her back to press herself further into his hand,  
          “You mean they can’t help me like you can” she spat bitterly as she wrapped her legs around him and pulled his body closer to hers until their lips met, the kiss was rough as Maxson attempted to conquer her mouth. She knew him well enough by now to know when to push his buttons and when to step back to avoid him losing what little control he had over his temper, he’d hit her once and she had assured him that would be the one and only time before leaving him naked and erect in the shower they’d been sharing together. The sting of the back hand he’d given her, bringing a blinding flash to her vision, she could still feel it in her mind but it was mixed with a feeling of arousal at the pure, intense passion in his eyes in that moment,  
          “The Brotherhood can help you and the Brotherhood is mine” he growled the last word into her face, she knew she’d be hearing that again, he liked what was his to know it. He lifted his weight from her and released her long enough to pull the suit down over her shoulders, pinching roughly at her skin as he went. Her legs were still wrapped around him and held his hips close to her, she could feel his erection against her and he could see the wetness on the blue of her vault suit soaking through to meet his cock. He roughly grabbed her ankles and untwisted them, shoving her feet to the floor forcefully enough to make her gasp, she heard him take a deep breath and let out a sigh she couldn’t quite read,  
          “You have the numbers and the tactics but brute force doesn’t get you everything” one side of his mouth wobbled into a sneer and that muscle ticked with anger, he grabbed her hair pulling enough to coax out a peeling scream from her. His other hand found her waist and slipped under, using his great strength to flip her over onto her front, her arse in the air and the wetness soaking through the vault suit now obvious. His hand untangled from her hair and came to rest on the small of her back, the other landing a ringing smack on her arse, she heard a self satisfied laugh as she cried out in pain with a touch of pleasure,  
          “You seem to enjoy my brute force most of the time” he whipped her vault suit down so that her ankles were held together by it and her cunt was on display, another ringing crack, this time bringing tears to her eyes and causing her voice to quaver as she yelled out. He placed a hand over her genitals, feeling the wetness and the warmth but not touching her,  
          “Please Arthur” she mewled, she could feel how close his hands were to her and every fibre of her being wanted him to touch her there, put his fingers inside her,  
          “Please what?” he said, still hovering over her quivering quim and feigning an innocence she knew he didn’t have,  
          “Please I just want you inside me” with those words he jammed two of his thick fingers as far inside her as he could she gasped in a loud shaking breath and he started to move them with far more skill and delicacy than he should be able to. She moaned and pushed herself back to meet his hand, feeling the balled fingers of the rest of his fist rubbing against her, the pressure from the hand on her back growing stronger and pushing her down into the table,  
          “So, you will leave the railroad in the dust and will not disrespect me like that again” she mewled and squirmed under the expert touch of his hand, still even in a moment like this she had her own mind and would not allow him to talk to her like that,  
          “No… oh god… I will do… fuck… what I want” his hand moved and he removed his fingers from her, she let out a clear and resonant disappointed cry before he chuckled and slapped her across both cheeks, leaving a trail of her own juices along her backside,  
          “You are still a soldier under my command Lorelai, you will follow my orders or you will be removed from the brotherhood” she felt the end of his rock hard cock rub against her folds running up and down them… he was going to make her beg for it “tell me, is this worth giving up?”  
          “For my pride? yes” she lifted her head and twisted so that her bright green eyes were looking directly into his blue ones, he pulled himself back and smacked her again, the sudden stinging pain made her throw herself back down on the table with a quiet scream. He resumed rubbing the tip of his dick against her,  
          “Tell me what you want”  
          “I want you to respect me”  
          “Wrong answer” another resounding slap and another cry,  
          “Tell me what you want”  
          “I want to be able to make up my own mind”  
          “Wrong answer again” his hand met her arse with a ringing noise that would probably be heard throughout the ship and she cried out, he resumed his god damned rubbing, her insides ached for him, pulsing and jolting every time his head met her opening and moved away,  
          “What do you want?” she let out a frustrated mewl,  
          “I WANT YOU TO FUCK ME” she shouted, she didn’t care then that everyone could hear it she just had to say something that would release the aching pressure building up inside her,  
          “That’s not asking nicely” god he was an evil man, everything he said and did frustrated her and made her yearn for him more, she could feel the muscles in her vagina tightening and loosening as he rubbed against her, never quite close enough to the hole for long enough that she could just push back against him,  
          “Please, please fuck me, please I just want you inside me” he made a noise in his throat like a deep laugh and plunged his shaft inside her deep, she let out a long keening moan and threw her head back. He gently, slowly pulled his hips back and slid until he was almost out of her before slamming back inside again and repeating, growing faster with each thrust, every movement eliciting a shaking groan from her lips,  
          “Tell me you won’t go to the railroad again” he said with an extra rough thrust that made her mind blank for a second,  
          “NO” she yelled when her senses came back, turning her head and twisting her body to look at him again. He pulled back and slapped her arse cheek before slamming himself up to the hilt inside her. Grabbing a handful of hair he pulled her straight, his chest hair tickling her back, every sense heightened it made her shiver and sent a wave of pleasure running through her body, he liked that as he thrust upwards into her,  
          “You are a soldier in my ranks, I could simply order it” he whispered into her ear, nipping the lobe with his teeth, she laid her head back against his shoulder and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling as, with each movement of his hips she was lifted to the balls of her feet,  
          “When did I…. auuugghhhhh…. last follow… shitting… orders” he wrapped one of his strong arms around her, taking a breast in his hand and twisting the nipple gently between his thumb and finger, with his other hand he reached down and fell into a similar motion on her clit. the feeling this left her was one so intense she could feel herself getting light headed and her entire body tensed,  
          “He can’t make you come like I do, you’re mine” he whispered as with one last thrust she broke, every last atom in her body coming apart with the white hot pleasure of her orgasm, her toes curled and her body shook in his arms, he easily held her up. The long, loud scream she had let out was soon met by his bellowing as he came inside her and they crashed down onto the tale, even in his moment he was careful to twist so that he didn’t land on top of her. She simply lay shaking and sighing in his arms, once he had recovered himself enough to look at her he gently swept a strand of hair from her sweaty forehead and kissed her cheek, she looked up at him with hazy lidded eyes. Picking her in his arms he carried her to the small bed in the corner of the room and laid the both of them down, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, her orgasm had left her just riding on a cloud of ecstasy and she hardly felt his arms around her. By the time her mind had reset and she could think almost clearly she turned around to ask who he had meant by “he”, but Maxson was asleep, one heavy muscled arm laid lazily at her waist. She untangled herself from him and made her way to the shower to wash the sweat and alcohol from her body and hair, she then fell into a deep sleep on her cot in the barracks.

\---------------------

          “Hey there beautiful” Deacons eyes lit up as she entered the catacombs, it had taken her a whole day to trek to the Old North Church where the Railroad’s hidden HQ was and she was sore but Deacons enthusiasm and bubbly personality always made her smile. Drummer Boy, the one who managed all the tasks and dead drops around the Commonwealth and beyond told them to talk to Desdemona. The older woman was older and beautiful if a little stern, she was always smoking with a habit of throwing a cigarette butt to emphasise her point, she greeted both of them with a frown,  
          “Deacon, Fixer” Fixer was Lorelai’s code name, whilst at HQ they all called her that but when out in the field Deacon called her Rory, the name her mother had used for her, “Now Fixer, I am well aware that you have been working with the Brotherhood as well as us, I would like to know where your loyalties really lie”  
          “Em” Lorelai blushed, the question had come out of nowhere and she tried not to look at Des, her eyes met Deacons and he gave her a confused look, like he was trying to figure something out “I… well… I won’t lie the Brotherhood has been good to me but my personal beliefs align with yours”  
          “Fixer” Deacon piped up, still fixing her with a bewildered stare “that’s not really an answer just a statement of fact… come on you can’t get that sort of thing past me”  
          “It’s a hard question to answer, do my loyalties lie with my own morals or with those to whom I’m most thankful”  
          “I would hope they would lie with what you know is best for the Commonwealth and what your gut tells you” Desdemona said in a proud, distinguished tone as though she knew for a fact that the railroad was what was best for the Commonwealth,  
          “There’s something you’re not telling us isn’t there” Deacon could always hit the nail on the head… fuck. Lorelai’s eyes snapped up and her back straightened, her usual silent watchfulness returning, she looked Desdemona straight in the eye,  
          “No, nothing, my loyalties lie with you but you can’t expect me to simply leave the Brotherhood, it would be too suspicious”  
          “I agree” said Des “and your place among their ranks could be of use to us, so long as you continue to work for us you may also work with them, I will give you the opportunity to prove your loyalty to us… now, P.A.M has a job for the two of you”

          They had set off on the job P.A.M had given them, she noticed suspiciously that Deacon kept looking behind them but decided to leave him to it, after all she trusted him and was sure he had his reasons to be on edge. She found out soon enough when they were far enough away to be out of earshot of the church, even when shouting and he took her roughly by the shoulder and pinned her against a wall,  
          “There is something isn’t there” she could tell his eyes were searching her face for any trace of a lie even through the sunglasses,  
          “No” she brushed his hand off her and continued walking past, the spy but he grabbed her by the wrist,  
          “You’re lying… don’t cheat a cheater babe” his hand was gentle despite the grip on her, his feet were planted firmly on the ground, she twisted her arm to try and break free from his grip but it was too strong,  
          “I’m not lying”  
          “You are, even with your calculating eyes I can spot a lie”  
          “Let me go Deacon”  
          “You’re so hard to read Rory, what’s going on?” she gave up struggling and stood tall, proudly meeting his eyes with hers, her usual look of numbness on her face,  
          “It’s none of your business” shit… that was really the wrong thing to say Deacons face split into a knowing smile, like a dog that was close to worrying a piece of meat from a bone,  
          “So there is something then?” shit, shit, shit,  
          “Yes, and it’s none of your business”  
          “I knew you were lying to Des… Rory you can tell me anything”  
          “Not this” her face began to flush as she thought through all the things she’d done with Maxson, all the things she let him do, all the feelings that welled up inside of her just from the mention of his name. She could never tell the man in front of her the truth, even though she knew that now he had found the thread he would keep pulling until the whole damn mess unravelled around her,  
          “Did they do something to you?”  
          “Don’t be silly, they’re an army and I’m a soldier what on earth do you think they’d do?”  
          “Is it Danse, that soldier you hang around with, you don’t want to hurt him…. fuck Rory do you have feelings for him?” that hit to close to home, her eyes widened just a tiny amount but Deacon was like her and noticed every little detail,  
          “No… it’s not that”  
          “No you’re right it’s not, but it is close” oh no, he would not let this drop and they were stood in the middle of the street, her unable to free herself from his arm,  
          “It’s not close at all”  
          “That was just a bare faced lie” did this man have a polygraph hidden in his head, he had told her he was a synth when they first met (a lie meant to teach her not to trust, or was it?)  
          “Look Deeks will you just let me go,” she gave one last futile attempt to twist from his grip,  
          “Are you sleeping with one of those Brotherhood arseholes?”  
          “No” a lie,  
          “Hummmm” he held his spare hand to his chin thoughtfully, though she was sure it was just a show “that was obviously a lie, who is it you’re sleeping with then, not Danse I already asked that”  
          “We’re not playing twenty questions right now”  
          “Oh yes we are, and you’ll deny all of it but see… I can tell when you’re lying”  
          “Deacon please” something new passed across his face when she pleaded with him,  
          “Don’t beg, it’s unbecoming… who do I know from the Brotherhood… is it that Doctor… Cade I think his name was”  
          “No” she sighed, they were in a danger of attack at any point in such an open place, Deacon knew that of course but it was clearly supposed to work in his favour,  
          “That… what’s his name… your superior” she froze, her back stiff when he said that “Captain Kells?”  
          “No” she relaxed at his name but Deacon had caught on,  
          “No, but still a superior… higher up that him?”  
          “I’m not playing”  
          “Yes… well that’s…. no… no no NO… you are NOT sleeping with the biggest DICK of all the DICKS up in that FLYING DICK MOBILE?” she couldn’t help but look away from him, shame seeping through her “YOU ARE…. YOU’RE FUCKING MAXSON… OH FUCK RORY”  
          “I’m sorry Deeks, it… it sorta just happened”  
          “FUCKING HELL Rory… just how STUPID are you?” his voice was angry, his speech interspersed with yells, she was close to crying, close to lashing out at him and he still held her wrist and wouldn’t let her go,  
          “It’s none of your business” she said quietly, his shouting would attract something before too long and she didn’t know if he would fight at her side or just leave her there to die a traitor,  
          “WHAT was that?”  
          “IT’S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS” his mean tone had been the snapping point, she couldn’t help but turn and bite back,  
          “YES IT IS WHEN IT PUTS ALL OF US IN DANGER” the hand on her wrist squeezed slightly, not enough to hurt but it was not a gentle gesture,  
          “IT’S MY BODY” she snapped, she couldn’t believe he was being like this, she knew she was literally sleeping with the enemy but it was still her choice to make,  
          “Wait, is he hurting you?” the sudden concern in Deacon’s voice was more than she could take, the anger turned immediately to sadness and tears sprung from her eyes, the spy pulled her into a hug “oh babe if he’s hurting you we can help you get away”  
          “No… it’s… it’s not that” she tried to say through sobs, she didn’t really understand why she was crying herself,  
          “Do you… have… feelings for him?” that was it, as usual Deacon had looked into her soul and seen exactly what was there “oh Rory how could you?” this time it was sadness and not anger in his voice,  
          “He’s so much kinder, so much gentler than anyone knows”  
          “Is he there for you, does he whisper sweet nothings in your ear and tell you that he’ll be by your side through anything? Fuck Rory do you even know what kind and gentle is?”  
          “He doesn’t hurt me… well… not…” she trailed off,  
          “Has he hurt you, at all?”  
          “He hit me once, he just lost it”  
          “Shit Rory you deserve better than him, I imagine him treating you like one of his possessions, just a thing” she didn’t answer, she knew and deep down she knew that Maxson wasn’t right for her “Rory you can’t let him do this to you… he’s clouding your judgement about what’s right and you know you’re smarter than that”  
          “Des said I might be useful in the Brotherhood”  
          “And if Des told you to kill him because he was about to unleash hell on the whole fucking commonwealth… could you do it?”  
          “I don’t know” she honestly didn’t, she knew that at some point it might come down to that and she’d have to choose between her conscience and her heart “he’s really not… he’s not a bad person, just… lost”  
          “I don’t think I can talk to you about this anymore. Rory why couldn’t you have fallen for someone better, someone without a fucked up power complex, someone like…”  
          “Like you?” he looked at the ground and dropped his arms from her “is that really what this is about?”  
          “No this is about you putting us all in danger”  
          “Do you.... care about me like that?” he rounded on her again, fury on his tightly pressed lips, his sunglasses falling to the tip of his nose and showing wide burning eyes,  
          “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? DO YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU I LOVE YOU? WOULD IT MAKE THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF DIFFERENCE IF I DID?”  
          “I can’t do this… I’m going back to the Prydwen, tell Des whatever the hell you want and find some way to let me know when you’re over this” she turned from him and cast off in the direction of the Airport,  
          “RUNNING BACK TO YOUR PSYCHOTIC LOVER BOY?” she refused to answer him, refused to turn and look at him, just kept walking forward her eyes resting on the big silver shape towering over the horizon.

\--------------------------

          Danse greeted her when she disembarked from the vertibird and her feet hit the deck of the Prydwen. He was completely unaware of her relationship with Maxson, they had tried to make it so the whole ship would know nothing and there were rumours flashing around about who the woman heard screaming from his room was. The power armour clad soldier saluted her and called her knight before leading her inside, she had hoped to just be led to Lance Captain Kells for debriefing after her few days away but she was lead instead towards the big, window filled room that was normally Maxson’s hideout,  
          “Where are we going?” she asked Danse,  
          “Maxson asked that you be taken directly to him as soon as you were aboard Knight”  
          “Please Danse, Lorelai, we’re friends” he gave her a look that told her to stop being so insubordinate, at least aboard the ship “what do you think he wants?”  
          “I have no right to guess what is going through the Elders mind” she had to stop herself smiling at this, if he only knew some of the images that would be going through Arthur’s mind at any given moment “between you and me though, he seems… angrier than usual”  
          “Oh god what have I done this time?”  
          “Knight, I doubt that you specifically have enough of a bearing on the Elder to change his mood, he has far too many things to deal with to let one knight’s actions affect him in such a way” Danse was sweet and naive and would never put two and two together to realise that every single thing she did was capable of changing everything about the Elders demeanour. She would walk over hot coals rather than tell Danse the truth, besides they were there now and Arthur was stood in his battlecoat facing away, staring through the window, his back straight and his hands clasped behind his back. Lorelai instinctively mirrored his stance and wished she hadn’t, if Maxson saw her mirroring him he would know she was on the back foot and he had the upper hand but if Danse noticed her fidgeting and changing her posture he would become suspicious. She chose to stay like that, after all she could handle Arthur and the dance they often did, exchanging verbal blows and staring into each other's eyes it was like foreplay right in front of other people and always got her pulse racing. What she couldn’t handle was losing what little privacy she had and gossip about her sex life spreading through the ship, like it already did but with her name confirmed. Danse cleared his throat rousing both her and Maxson from their deep thoughts, she wondered briefly if they had been deep thoughts about her,  
          “Paladin, Knight” he said, making sure not to rest his eyes too long on her, not just yet  
          “Elder, as requested Knight Thomson” Danse was always so formal, in another situation it would have made her laugh right now though she was concentrating on not letting the butterflies in her stomach escape from her mouth,  
          “Elder, you wanted me” her eyes flicked to meet his and she knew what he was thinking ‘I’ve always wanted you’ she just smiled and held his gaze,  
          “Yes knight, it has come to my attention that you have been indulging in certain… actions… outside the brotherhood. I will have you know that these actions will not be tolerated” he continued to stare directly into her eyes, only she could see the burning want behind the bright blue there,  
          “And what actions are you referring to sir?” she knew he couldn’t say directly, that he wouldn’t just come out and tell her how much he hated her spending time with Deacon, it was all part of the dance,  
          “You have met with certain individuals that I expressly ordered you not to associate with” so she’d been spotted arguing in the street, could Deacon have chosen a worse place for it?  
          “I remember no such official order” she snapped back putting a little emphasis on the word official and being rewarded by a tightening of his lips and grinding of his teeth that caused her skin to feel tight,  
          “Neither do I sir” Danse piped in, completely missing the point, Arthur’s eyes were dragged reluctantly away from hers to the Paladin,  
          “Yes Danse, perhaps I… should have relayed such orders through you” being a little behind Danse she was able to raise her eyebrows as if to say ‘my point exactly’ without the other soldier seeing the gesture,  
          “I will be happy to relay and orders to the Knight in the future to avoid any further confusion sir” Danse said… well there goes Maxson’s not following orders excuse for chastising her in front of others when she didn’t follow his stupid jealous whims.

          Danse and Lorelai took their leave of him and headed to the power armour hangar to fix theirs up, Danse had spent a lot of time teaching her the correct technique for cleaning and repairing each piece. Usually she sat in silence and watched his careful hands work, taking in everything he said and memorising everything he did today though she was thinking of the argument with Deacon and the true implications behind Maxson’s words. As she attempted to copy her friend with her own armour Maxson walked in and greeted Proctor Ingram behind her, he had angled himself to be facing her crouched form and as he listened to the proctor he risked little glances towards her. Watching him herself in the reflexion on the gleaming power armour she didn’t pay attention to what she was doing and felt a sharp pain as a loose scrap of metal cut her hand. It wasn’t deep but was enough to bleed, she excused herself to go and get a bandage and left the room to walk through the quiet halls, it seemed everyone was at work or sleeping in shifts as they do and so the halls were almost empty.Before she knew it a hand was thrown around her middle from behind and she was pulled into a wall of muscle behind her. Maxson picked her up, whole body off the ground with one arm and took her off to a deserted side corridor that was unlikely to see any traffic at this time of day. He dropped her and turned her around, pinning her back against the cold metal wall,  
          “You’re hurt?” he asked.  
          “It’s nothing” she held up her hand to show him the slowly seeping wound, still not bleeding enough to drip but not far off, he took it in his and examined it for a second before seemingly making up his mind on something,  
          “Good” was all he said before pushing his body against her trapping her hands behind her own body and clamping a hand over her mouth, he reached for the zip of her blue vault suit and leaned in to whisper in her ear “don’t make a sound”  
She shook her head, his hand on her mouth was big enough to cover her chin too, he absently stroked at her jawline with his little finger, there was no way she could make much noise like that. The zip was now undone to it’s bottom, revealing her bra, her navel and the top of her white cotton knickers, he rubbed one calloused finger along the edge of her panties and she hummed appreciatively at the feel of it,  
          “Not one noise I said” he hissed into her ear, nipping at the lobe and placing a soft kiss just behind it, where her jaw met her head. He lifted the cotton and slipped his fingers under it to feel the soft hair that waited there, his touch made her skin tingle spreading from that spot all over her body. She wanted to kiss him, to moan, to show him how much this was affecting her but she couldn’t with his hand on her face and her arms pinned behind her back,  
          “You infuriate me” he said to her, slipping his fingers lower so the just rested where her folds met, just above her clit and there they stayed for some time as he kissed and nibbled at her neck. She was so excited, burning for him to touch her and turned on by her helplessness and the chance of being caught like this, she tried to wiggle her hips in a way that would make his hand fall just a centimetre lower but he simply clamped a leg over her own and put a stop to that,  
          “You defy me at every turn, even now” he breathed, lifting his head again to her ear, the tickle of his words brought out an unexpected moan from her mouth, muffled by his hands but not unnoticed,  
          “Not a sound” his hand slipped lower, meeting the sensitive skin and causing her muscles to pull inside her as though they were trying to pull something in, air rushed in a loud sigh from her nose, he looked at her angrily but decided to let that one go. The tip of one rough finger started to move massaging her clit and bringing a shake to her hips, she longed to cry out but knew he would stop,  
          “Good girl, finally following an order” his hand trailed down further and awkwardly in the skin tight jumpsuit he slipped one finger inside her, then another positioning the pad of his thumb over her nub. He started to move all together in a slow rhythmic way that brought a little groan unchecked to her mouth, he stopped,  
          “What did I say?” she looked into his eyes, all pleading and half dropped lashes, she was desperate for him to carry on and she wanted him to throw her over his shoulder and take her to his room and just fuck her again and again. He started up the motion again and she held her breath to stop from making a sound, it wasn’t long though until she couldn’t hold any longer and her breathing returned panting through her nose. She looked into his eyes and all the frustration and anger of this and the past few day welled up within her, tears of frustration fell down her face and she pleaded with him the only way she could, she needed release,  
          “I like making you cry like this” he sped up the movements bringing her quickly to the brink, her hips shaking and her stomach filling with fire, she moaned, she couldn’t help herself, it just came to her lips, bypassing her brain. He stopped again and she made a stroppy noise in her throat, she had been so close and she needed this after everything that had happened,  
          “You make a sound I stop” he said to her but soon he resumed the movements and she felt the building again, quickly this time the dam inside her filling with white hot lava ready to spill, her back tensed and her muscles clamped around his fingers. She let out a cry muffled by his hand as the defences broke, she was filled all over with warm pulsing pleasure and she tumbled again into a pit of endorphins and dazed happiness,  
          “Remember you are mine” Maxson said as he gently lowered her to the ground, removing his fingers from her clothes as he did so he put them into his mouth and lapped up all the juices. For a moment he stayed with her, stroking her hair then as she was regaining her self awareness he kissed the top of her head and took his leave. It was the exact moment that he rounded a corner that a scribe came down the stairs beside her and eyed her with shock, laid as she was, her back slumped against the wall and her vault suit undone. It took some time to assure the scribe that she was fine and even longer to persuade him not to tell anyone how he had found her. That done she found herself a bandage, wrapped her hand and retired to her bunk, she couldn’t think of a single way she could do this without having to give up her self respect and side with him or give up Maxson and the way he made her feel. Lorelai laid awake staring at the ceiling trying to think of how she could figure out which way to go, she eventually drifted off to sleep no more aware of her path than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is LOOOOOOONG... but it hasn't changed all that much from when it was posted before as part of a collection and you know, I haven't posted in a while so enjoy and don't hate me (I've been working on a follow up for Junkie and the New Girl)


	12. When Father Met Lorelai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai has made it into the institute and doesn't find what she expected.
> 
> Spoilers... Spoilers everywhere

          The child in front of her had her hair and his father’s eyes but he didn’t know her, he had screamed when she told him she was here to take him home and begged for “Father”. An old man entered the room and spoke some sort of code and her son sort of... shut down... This old man had tricked her with a synth and was muttering something about “emotional stimuli”  
          “Where is my son?” she said, her voice bubbling with a rage that brought with it more words than would normally be offered a stranger, the man eyed her coldly,  
          “He is here and He is safe” his voice struck a chord with her, it was so like Nate’s but not filled with the emotions her late husband had been so free with,  
          “Shaun?” she questioned and the man jumped with slight shock,  
          “Well done Mother, I knew you were highly perceptive but I am impressed” he was so cold, so logical when he had just been confronted with his own long lost mother. She reeled at it, at the fact that her baby was not ten but sixty, at the fact that this man before her was so... distant, so different from what he would have become with her love. Lorelai barely paid attention as he spoke, he wanted her to join them and take a place in his institute, live here in this perfect white, clean prison. Her true allegiances might be something that confused her right now but one thing was clear, she would never allow herself to be controlled by this monster who created people to keep as slaves and looked at his own mother like a science experiment.  
          Lorelai wandered almost blindly around the institute, her usually quick eyes and perceptive mind busy trying to hold back tears. She found Doctor Li, who put a chip in her pip boy that would allow her to transport to the institute from anywhere in the Commonwealth then Lorelai persuaded the doctor to return to the brotherhood. She stumbled around talking to the department heads not taking in a word they said, using what little charm she had to keep up the appearance of caring about this soulless place. Then she found the serum promised to Virgil along with more evidence of “Father’s” horrific experiments, turning kidnapped people into supermutants and recording the effects. Finally, feeling the holotape that had scanned and copied their data and the vial of serum in her pockets she lifted her pip boy and travelled to a point not far from the airport. After looking about to make sure no one was around she collapsed and sobbed for what felt like an eternity, all the hate she had felt and all the things she had barely dared to dream crashed down and spilled out in heavy sobs. Once she had nothing left and her face was red and puffy she set off on the short walk home.

\-----------------------

          Both Maxson and Danse were waiting for her when she got to the Prydwen, they looked stern but both softened when they saw her downcast face, she longed to have Arthur hold her and tell her it would be ok, she longed for that to be true. Looking at both their concerned faces she broke down again, tears she didn’t think we’re left spilling from her,  
          “Danse, please take Knight Thomson to my quarters and wait for me there” Arthur said to the loyal Knight by his side, Danse in turn saluted and put an arm around Lorelai to gently lead her to the Elders room. Inside he sat her down and pulled out another chair for himself so that he could sit facing her and take both of her hands in his,  
          “What happened Lorelai?” she looked up at him weakly, the fresh pain too much to put into words yet “is it your son? Did you make it to the institute?” she nodded. At that point the door opened and Maxson came in making Danse jump and drop her hands, Arthur placed a tray of food, three glasses and an unopened bottle of whiskey on his table and passed Lorelai a purified water before sitting down beside her,  
          “What is the matter Knight?” he asked her with real concern,  
          “My baby...” she trailed off before she could say more and sobbed again, Maxson offered Danse a drink and she gratefully lapped up her water before a glass of whiskey was placed in her hand too,  
          “You made it to the institute then?” Maxson asked her,  
          “Yes”  
          “Did they do anything to you?” this came from Danse, his voice too ringing with worry, she drank the full glass of whiskey, flinching as it burnt her throat and sighed before talking in a low, sad voice,  
          “They were... nice really but... my son... He... He isn’t my son” the whole thing was interspersed with pauses and sobs “he’s old now... sixty or older” both men gasped,  
          “How?” Danse asked with a rather stupid look on his face, it made Lorelai let out a short, half-hearted laugh,  
          “I was on ice for sixty years... It felt like... seconds but the whole time he... He was there”  
          “What did they do to him?” Maxson questioned,  
          “They brainwashed him and made him their king” she broke down again and the glass was taken from her hand and returned to her full,  
          “He runs the place you mean?” Maxson asked  
          “Yes, he’s the director and they all call him ‘father’... he’s cold... soulless”  
          “Do you need some time?”  
          “For what?”  
          “To recover, I need you to know you are 100% behind the Brotherhood Knight Thomson”  
          “I know where my loyalties lie and it is not with the institute and the monster they made out of my son” maybe she didn’t really know who she was most loyal to right now but the rest was the truth, that man was not her son, not even a man really, just an emotionless monster,  
          “Good... Danse I suggest you get back to work, I will make sure Knight Thomson is taken care of” Maxson turned to look at Danse who finished his drink and left with a salute for his leader and a soft smile for Lorelai. The moment the door closed behind him Arthur was on his knees in front of her, pulling her into his warm embrace, stroking her hair and whispering soothingly, she felt her tears return but didn’t have the energy to fight them away. For some time they just stayed like that as she sniffed into his big shoulder but eventually he pulled away from her and looked into her eyes,  
          “I will do all I can to bring down hell on the institute, you have my word” he promised her but she shook her head and wiped away tears,  
          “I’m not looking for revenge and I know you will destroy the institute anyway... just promise you’ll hold me Arthur... tell me you’ll hold me when I cry, when this whole thing seems hopeless and I just want to run away and hide”  
          “I thought that was a given... Lorelai I’m here for you, for whatever you need... you seem so tired, come on let’s get an early night” with that he lifted her and laid her gently on his bed, wrapping himself around her and pulling a blanket over them both. In his bed with her protector by her side Lorelai drifted off to sleep on the end of the second worst day of her life.

\--------------------------

          It was weeks before she could bring herself to work again but eventually she found herself back on the ground with Danse at her side, he was always easy to shake off so as she watched the jumping flames of a camp fire she made up her mind to return to the Railroad and explain to them what she had seen. She had made sure to have a copy of the holotape ready for them, the other one given to the Brotherhood scribes.  
          The next morning she told Danse she was going to check on Sanctuary and he should return to the Prydwen and wait for her, since she was still not back to ‘full working order’ as Cade put it she was mostly allowed to come and go as she pleased so it wasn’t hard to convince him. The church was only a short walk from where they had been so she set off into the debris of Boston as soon as Danse was out of sight.

\---------------------

          “FIXER” Deacon was running across the catacombs towards her, he stopped in front of her to strike a particularly outlandish pose that made her laugh despite herself “good you’re laughing, makes saying sorry easier”  
          “Ok Deeks... I forgive you even if that wasn’t a real apology” she said with laughter in her voice for the first time since the institute,  
          “Well it was close and...” he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered into her ear “I didn’t tell anyone, don’t want my best pal thrown out of the club house”  
          “Thanks Deeks... now I have some big news and I know how much you like to be the first to hear big news”  
          “Is this about you getting into the institute?”  
          “God damn it... how did you know?”  
          “I’m damn good at my job” he flashed her a winning smile, “so what happened in there? I mean I’m good but I’m not spying in the top secret headquarters of the mysterious organisation we want to bring down kinda good”  
           “It’s all gone to shit Deeks... I want to get as many synths out as I can but... I want to do it with the brotherhood’s help” she knew he wouldn’t be happy with the idea and wasn’t surprised to see him frown and raise an eyebrow high enough to be seen over his sunglasses “ok but hear me out... actually I think I’m gonna talk to Des too, come on”  
          Desdemona didn’t look too thrilled about working with the Brotherhood either but both of them stood and listened as she explained the plan,  
          “What do we need to get all the synths out at once?” she asked, in typical class clown fashion Deacon was raising his hand and jumping about, Des didn’t even look at him but did roll her eyes a sigh,  
          “A lot of guns or a big beautiful distraction” he said excitedly,  
          “Well done Deacon, have a gold star... what better distraction than an attack from the Brotherhood? So it would work like this, I somehow get everyone in... I guess Tinker Tom can figure out some way to get the teleportation thing to work so you can all get in right?”  
          “Probably” Desdemona said whilst sounding very underwhelmed so far,  
          “Well if he can then you all wait for my signal, it’ll look like a big robot... and I mean big, they showed me it the other day”  
          “Seen it... yesterday’s news sweet cheeks” Deacon mocked her,  
          “Well that going nuclear is the signal, while I’m fighting my way in with the Brotherhood you teleport in, get as many synths as possible out and get gone before the Brotherhood make a mess of the place... The institute goes down, you save the synths and the Brotherhood think they’re the winners” She looked hopefully at the older woman in front of her who was holding a cigarette halfway to her mouth and just standing in thoughtful silence,  
          “I like it” she said finally, throwing the cigarette away to emphasise the point “if you can pull it off that is”  
          “Come on Des... Fixer can do anything” Deacon pleaded, looking like he was about to fall to his knees in front of her,  
          “Ok, we’re with you... don’t mess this up and let us know when everything is going down”  
          “Oh I brought you guys a present too... though I did get the Brotherhood something similar” she held out the holotape “this contains every last scrap of information on the institutes computers... you’re welcome” finally Desdemona actually looked pleased.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I'm capable of writing a chapter without smut... aw now I miss the smut


	13. A Hot Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a hot day in the Commonwealth and everyone is trying to find ingenious ways to keep cool.

          It was hot out in the Commonwealth, Lorelai couldn’t quite face going back to the Prydwen so wanted to spend a few days helping out the railroad but instead her and Deacon were laid in the shade melting into the concrete and chugging purified water. It was a sudden hot flash that came out of nowhere, the type of day she would have been out in the garden sunbathing back before the bombs fell, now she just laid next to her favourite spy instead.  
          “Hey Deeks” Lorelai said, turning to face him, they were laid under the shade of a tumbledown wall in the middle of nowhere, too tired from the heat to move far,  
          “Yea babe?” he rolled onto his side to face her, not quite sure what was coming next, with Lorelai it could be something really profound or something really silly,  
          “You finally actually need your sunglasses in this weather” she watched him break into a massive grin, so it was a bit of both this time,  
          “I'm just really well prepared, I knew it would get sunny eventually so I always wear them” she lifted one eyebrow, she wasn’t sure if he was kidding or actually trying to convince her that was true,  
          “Well you clearly have the sight, you predicted that it would be sunny at some point in the future and behold your prediction has come true” she said in a dramatic voice before breaking into fits of giggles,  
          “You know kid… we should probably do some actual work at some point”  
          “What were we supposed to be doing again?” she could have sworn she had heat stroke, she couldn’t think quite right,  
          “Dammed if I know, feels like my heads on backwards… I think I need to lie down in a pool full of purified water for a few days to twist it back round”  
          “I wonder if the Prydwen has air conditioning, I would be back there in a heartbeat if it did”  
          “I'd probably join you, not sure if getting out of this heat is worth dealing with that many dicks though”  
          “Oh it so is, come on, I'll lend you my flight suit and you'll blend right in… you can keep it too, add a whole new disguise to your arsenal”  
          “Yea no offence kid but if I wanted to dress up like a giant penis I could probably find easier ways to do it than that” he chuckled to himself at his own joke,  
          “You're bald so you're already halfway there” she gave him a cheeky grin,  
          “If it wasn't so hot I'd come over there and smack you for that… only I don’t really want to move… like ever again”  
          “Right Deeks if there's no chance of me getting any work done I'm going to head back to the giant silver phallus in the sky” she sat up, it was only a couple of hours walk back to the airport, in this heat she might be back there in oh… five or six hours,  
          “K… I'm just gonna melt here for a bit” he half heartedly waved at her as she stood up,  
          “You know it's probably cooler in the catacombs”  
          “Yea but then Des will yell at me for not getting anything done”  
          “Good point… try not to get eaten out here, it's probably even warmer in a deathclaws belly” she set off in the direction of the Airport leaving her best friend to slowly melt into the pavement but he spoke up once more,  
          “Rory you know you can’t keep running away back to… him… you have to face up to this whole mess at some point” she stopped and bowed her head with a sigh but didn’t turn to look at him, worried he’d see the shame in her face,  
          “I know” she said quietly but still loud enough for Deacon to just hear it and the sadness in her voice. When he didn’t speak up again she just carried on walking away from him.

\--------------------------

          The flight up to the Prydwen, though short, was gloriously windy and gave Lorelai the opportunity to briefly cool down. Life on the ship had slowed down a bit because of the all consuming temperature but up here it was always a bit cooler thanks to the constant flow of air. She paused on the deck, stretching her arms out to just let the air run over her until a scribe gave her a funny look as he passed and she realised just how silly she looked and headed inside. Danse was in the mess hall twiddling with some contraption, a tiny screwdriver in his hand,  
          “What's that?” she asked as she sat down next to him and took a swig of the open can beside his gadget,  
          “Oh hello Knight Thomson, this is the part of an ice box that actually makes the ice, the rest is behind the bar” sometimes it felt like you had to ask just the right questions in just the right order to figure out what was going through Danse’s head,  
          “Call me Lorelai, why are you poking it with a screwdriver?”  
          “I'm trying to make it work Knight Thomson” he said pointedly, as though that had answered everything,  
          “Ok… why are the precious man hours of the brotherhood's top Paladin being used to fix a broken ice box?”  
          “Moral is down on the ship because of the heat, Proctor Ingram came up with the bright idea of making ice to cheer everyone up or more cool everyone down”  
          “Good idea, can I be the first to try it?”  
          “I have to fix it first, then the first bucket of ice has been requested by the Elder I'm afraid, I'll be delivering it to him as soon as I get this damn thing to work”  
          “Anything I can do to help?”  
          “Do you have a decent understanding of electrical components and wiring as well as the basics of thermodynamics?”  
          “Not really no, do you know where Maxson is?”  
          “That's Elder Maxson knight and yes I believe he is in his quarters” he didn't for a second think to be suspicious about her asking after the Elder, just answered her question and got on with what he was doing,  
          “I'll go find something else to do then” she knew exactly what, or who that was too.

\--------------------------

          Maxson was in fact in his quarters, sitting at his terminal, his back facing away from the door when Lorelai softly knocked and let herself in. He turned, angry, before seeing it was her and letting his face soften,  
          “I was about to tell you off for being insubordinate and letting yourself into my quarters, then I realised it was you” he smiled at her as she quietly closed the door behind her and walked over to him,  
          “Surprised to see me are you Arthur?” she asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her stomach whilst she stood next to his chair,  
          “Yes actually, you aren't supposed to be back until tomorrow I thought you were visiting Sanctuary” she started stroking his hair and he let out a satisfied sigh,  
          “It’s far too hot down in the real world, I'd much rather be up here”  
          “Not like it's all that much better up here”  
          “Well I had an idea, fancy a cold shower?” she gave him a dazzling smile as he looked up at her confused,  
          “Aren't they supposed to be used to… calm down certain amorous situations”  
          “Not the way we use them, come on” she took his hand and pulled him out of the chair, pausing to give him a soft kiss before leading him through to the bathroom and starting to undress. He just stood there and watched as she took off her vault suit and folded it up, placing it on a side table by the sink. She looked up and smiled wickedly,  
          “Come on, you too” she started to undo the complicated collection of buckles and zips on the front of his flight suit “god why do these have to be so complicated?”  
          “Here” he reached up and helped her to undo the complex garment.

  
          The feeling of the cold water on her skin made Lorelai gasp, it was so chilling and so nice against her burning flesh. Maxson joined her, towering over her from behind and running his hands over her shoulders and the tops of her arms. She moaned gently, the sensation of the cold water contrasted against his hot hands was heavenly, she would happily stay there just like that until the weather cooled. Her lover had other intentions though and grabbed her shoulders and spun her around leaning down to kiss her roughly on the lips, his beard wet and scratchy as it moved on her soft face,  
          “I must admit this is nice” he said, pulling her body close to his so that the water ran down both of them in cool trails. She stood up on her tiptoes to return the kiss and, without breaking contact with her lips he placed his hands on either of her thighs and lifted her up, wrapping her legs around him. She giggled at the sudden rush of being picked up when she didn’t expect it,  
          “I like hearing you laugh” he kissed her again, stopping the laughter in its tracks, Lorelai draped her arms over his shoulders and tangled the fingers of one hand into his hair, pulling ever so slightly. He growled and dipped his head to nip at her shoulder with his teeth and she mewled and squirmed in his grip. Before she knew it he had thrust upwards into her causing a groan to tumble out of her lips unchecked. Walking forwards he leaned her against the cool tiles of the wall, the sudden coldness on her back making her shudder with pleasure. He started to move his hips sliding in and out of her as the water cascaded down them. All the million different sensations were almost too much for Lorelai to bear, she started to shake against him which just spurred him on thrusting harder and faster than before. She groaned loudly with pleasure as the feeling of fullness pulsed through her body and she felt her abdomen tense with each movement of Maxson’s hips,  
          “Oh god yes” she cried out as he kissed her collarbone, lifted her to get more traction and slammed into her deeper than before. She could feel her insides coiling around him more and more with each penetration. She screamed out his name as she came undone and he soon joined her with a groan,  
          “Yes, this was definitely a good idea” he said replacing her feet on the ground and switching off the water. She wrapped a towel round herself and moved through to his room... only to be faced with a shocked Danse holding a bucket of ice,  
          “Shit” she exclaimed looking at the frozen look of horror on the Paladin’s face, panic welling up in her gut,  
          “Rory what's wrong?” Maxson asked stepping into the room a towel wrapped around his waist, he didn’t exactly need to be told what the problem was when he spotted the soldier frozen to the spot in front of them “shit”  
          “Danse… em… how long have you been here?” Lorelai asked him, trying to gauge just how much he'd heard, not that there was much point the two of them stood there wet haired and wearing just towels wasn’t exactly something you could make an excuse for,  
          “I… I… I…” Danse just stuttered, Maxson sighed, this was a man who had stood beside him on battlefields and been fine, yet here he was stunned to silence,  
          “Paladin snap out of it an answer the woman” he snapped, returning quickly to his stern Elder persona. It seemed to work, Danse shook his head and looked at Lorelai,  
          “I… em… long enough Knight Thomson” he finally answered before adding “I have to go…. Do…. Something”he almost threw the bucket of ice onto the table then turned and ran pulling the door to Maxson’s quarters closed, they heard his door open and close too as he retreated to his own room. Lorelai sighed, grabbing some clothes she went into the bathroom in search of her underwear, she'd go talk to him but that definitely required real clothing.

  
          After a moment Maxson joined her in the bathroom, where he pulled her into a deep passionate kiss, then started laughing,  
          “What are you laughing at?” she whispered at him,  
          “Well the world will know soon enough, news travels fast on my ship” he whispered back, pulling on his flight suit, “it won't be long until everyone knows that you're mine”  
          “Arthur you know how I feel about that, I don't want people looking at me and… judging me… thinking I'm doing this for all the wrong reasons. What are we going to do?”  
          “We could just stay in this room forever” he said, pulling her in for another kiss, his arms holding her tightly at the waist,  
          “That’s not really a long term plan, I'll go talk to him maybe he'll keep this to himself”  
          “Talk to him alone? In his quarters?” she knew where that line of questioning was going,  
          “Yes”  
          “I don’t want you alone with that man, especially not in the room where he sleeps and most likely… well… you know what men do alone at night” yep that was pretty much where she expected it to go,  
          “You think I'm going to just jump into the nearest bed with any man I come into close proximity to? Come on give me a little more credit”  
          “I've seen the way he looks at you, he's probably dreamed about having you in there with him… no I'll go”  
          “Arthur, you and Danse may be close but you're still his commanding officer, everyone's commanding officer so that's who he'll see. I'm a friend, he'll be more comfortable talking to me” Maxson scoffed and fixed her with such a face, like a child who hadn't been allowed a toy… sometimes she forgot just how young he was. But after glaring into her eyes for a while he moved aside and let her go, she stored that little victory on the score sheet in the back of her mind.

\------------------------

          Danse was in his quarters, pacing, Lorelai could hear him muttering to himself when she knocked on the door. He opened it and his face dropped at seeing her,  
          “I suspected you would come, Maxson never did like doing his own dirty work” he said his voice betraying the spite he felt in that moment,  
          “Actually Arthur had wanted to come himself but I persuaded him to let me talk to you” she didn’t add that the main reason he had wanted to come was because he didn't trust them alone together,  
          “I would tell you to call him Elder Maxson but I suppose that's a moot point… always has been I assume. You better come in” he stepped aside and she walked into his quarters, they were smaller and even sparser than the Elders, just a bed, some lockers and a small desk. She couldn't help eyeing up the bed where her Paladin slept,  
          “It's not what you think you know” she said to the stiff man who was pushing the door closed behind her, his face now in check it betrayed little emotion,  
          “What do you suspect I think it is Knight?” she hadn’t exactly expected that question, the whole time she had been sneaking around with Maxson she had assumed everyone would think she was doing this for power, she should have realised her Paladin knew her too well for that, “you assume that I think you do this for what benefits you might receive, higher rank, more power or maybe to do your part in continuing the Maxson line? I have seen lots of girls try that, he usually uses them up and casts them aside”  
          “Do you think that's what he'll do to me?” she asked, suddenly worried,  
          “No, you Lorelai are special not something to be played with and thrown away, I see it and I have to assume he sees it too… how long have you been… together?”  
          “Do you remember when you told me Arthur wanted to see me in his quarters and I asked you if that was… normal?”  
          “Yes, I told you he would often gather new recruits to get to know them better”  
          “There were no others… it was just me and him… that's the first time he kissed me” Danse looked shocked for a second before shaking his head and carrying on,  
          “All that time… for so long and I…” he trailed off and looked up at her, when she didn’t say anything he took a deep breath and spoke again “you know Lorelai I've often pictured you here, in my quarters the two of us alone… always under very different circumstances and the whole time you were just next door”  
          “I'm sorry Danse… I never wanted to hurt you, you're too good a man for that”  
          “Do you love him?” he asked that question whilst desperately fighting back tears, she'd never seen her stern brave Paladin hurt like this before,  
          “Yes” she answered quietly moving her gaze to the floor, she couldn’t take seeing what that answer did to him but she could hear the strangled sob that he covered up as laughter,  
          “I suppose there's nothing for me to do then” she looked back up at him a quizzical expression must have been plastered on her face, he tried to laugh again in a last ditch attempt to hold back the tears,  
          “What do you mean?”  
          “Oh Lorelai, I've held a torch for you ever since I first saw you and I had hoped… but you seemed so sad, so distant I had assumed you were mourning a dead husband and a lost son but all the while you were sleeping with him”  
          “It wasn’t like that at first, I despised him for all of about a month but… I saw past all the bravado and he was kind”  
          “He is a great man but I don't think anyone would call him kind”  
          “He is to me… look Danse I know you don’t think I just want power but…”  
          “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me, I would never in a million years do anything to hurt you Lorelai”  
          “Thank you Danse, you really are a true friend” he whispered the word friend so quietly she only noticed because she had been expecting it. She walked over and kissed his cheek softly before leaving him there in silence, the second the door closed behind her she could hear him quietly crying. It hurt her deep in her soul to know she was the cause of so much heartache in a man she owed the world to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So with this story I've kinda been wanting to show Maxson slowly learning to be a decent man. As though Lorelai, rather than just changing him has more been opening his eyes to possibilities outside of his very narrow understanding of the world.  
>  I wanted it to seem like he learns in stages to be more relaxed and fun, not always angry at the world... it would be nice to know from you, dear readers, if you think I'm managing that because I'm not entirely sure I have, I didn't want to make it a situation where he meets the perfect woman and suddenly is a different person you know?


	14. Maxson Goes Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelei can't find Arthur... when she does sex happens (surprisingly). When they are kept apart for some time by work, followed by him acting strange she assumes the worst.

          Lorelai gently knocked at the door and waited… nothing happened so she tried again to no avail, she’d looked in the usual spots but hadn’t found him and now she was starting to worry. Another door opened behind her and she spun quickly around,  
          “Lorelai?” Danse questioned her “what are you doing? it’s the middle of the night”  
          “Do you know where Arthur is?” Danse gave her a heartbroken look, it had taken a long time to rekindle their friendship after he’d found out about her and his Elder but now she felt happy that she had someone to talk to about it. Only he would give her that heartfelt look any time she mentioned Arthur and it hurt her every time,  
          “I don’t know Knight, perhaps you should go to bed” he said, starting to close the door,  
          “No Danse… I’m worried about him” this caused him to pause,  
          “What do you mean worried?” he asked, it was clearly painful for him but even after everything the man was the head of the brotherhood,  
          “We argued, he stormed off and that was hours ago… I don’t know where he is”  
          “Ok I’ll put out an alert, we’ll have the whole Prydwen up and looking for him in a second” she looked horrified at the suggestion,  
          “No Danse” she said quickly “if he’s somewhere obvious how will you explain to everyone without implying me… I can see it now ‘why did you call an alarm when he was just here?’ ‘because Lorelai told me she’d had an argument with him and couldn’t find him’ see?”  
          “Ok, ok, I’ll help” so the two of them searched up and down the ship but nothing came of it, they decided to head down to the airport and by the time they found him the sun was creeping over the horizon. The last place they had thought to look was the beach, or more a small patch of sand to one side of the airport, there they found his clothes and a half empty bottle of rad-x, Lorelai started to giggle as she realised what had happened,  
           “He’s swimming… look” she pointed to a shape in the distance that was moving closer, leaving a V of waves in it’s wake,  
          “I suppose you don’t need me anymore” Danse said before excusing himself  
and leaving her there,  
          “COME IN, JOIN ME” Maxson bellowed from the water, Lorelai thought about it for a second, unsure, she hadn’t been swimming outside of missions in, Oh 200 years. In the end she stripped down, grabbed what was left of the rad-x and waded out. As soon as she was close enough Maxson grabbed her waist and spun her around in the water, she screeched and splashed him, he didn’t exactly look happy,  
          “You are an infuriating woman” he said as their legs treaded water beneath them, he reached up and pulled her close his face getting angrier still “are you wearing your underwear?”  
          “Are you not?” she asked pulling away from him a little, out here she couldn’t touch the bottom of the water and was feeling a little helpless with his arms twisted around her,  
          “I am not and I order you to remove yours at once”  
          “You can’t be serious?” the look he gave her was proof enough that he was so she sighed then reached behind her and undid her bra “what do I do with it now?”  
          “This” he took it out of her hand and threw it… away from land, it landed some distance away and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again,  
          “ARTHUR” she shouted at him… he was playful and she liked it on the rare occasions that he was in this mood but no one got away with throwing her clothes away,  
          “And the rest” he said, pulling at the band of her knickers, she helped him pull them off and they went the same way as her bra, she sighed and looked that the serious face of her lover,  
          “Now what?” she said stubbornly even though she could rather easily tell what was coming next,  
          “Now I make you scream my name as the sun comes up… romantic right?” he nipped at her shoulder that sat just above the water and took a breast in one hand, rolling the nipple between his fingers, she hummed in pleasure the feeling of his wet hands against her in the cool of the water making her body ache. He moved the hand from her breast, the other still holding her body close to his, and walked it down until his fingers were between her legs, she opened up to him, she couldn’t help it her body was just doing what it wanted. He slipped one finger inside her and she let out a shout of unintelligible almost words, he laughed into her neck and found her clit with his thumb and just held the there, still. She made a guttural noise of pleading at him as he just held her like that,  
          “What do you want me to do?” he asked, his playful moods often ended up in her being tortured like this and she loved every second of it… she mumbled something “speak up when you’re talking to a superior officer”  
          “Move your hand” she said, he started to move them away, sliding his finger from her and she made the same pleading noise again,  
          “Is this not what you wanted?” he nipped at her shoulder again sending a spike of pleasure to her core, she whimpered,  
          “No please” he laughed evilly and nipped at her again,  
          “Tell me what you want” she was going bright red, not exactly used to dirty talk it made her stomach knot and she screwed her eyes shut,  
          “Your hand, your fingers” she spat out, as her rubbed her arse and nipped her shoulder, she was burning for him to be inside her, any of him inside her,  
           “What do you want me to do with them?” this time he left a soft trail of kisses along her collarbone before sinking in his teeth, the pain shot to her groin, making her burn for him more,  
           “I want your fingers inside me, fuck me with them… please” she pushed out more like a moan than actual words on her tongue, he plunged his fingers inside her and she cried out,  
            “More like it” he found her clit with his thumb again and started to move his hand, her hips thrust in time with the motion as she felt the burning pleasure build up inside,  
            “Ohhh Arthur” she moaned her head back and her hips moving. He pulled his hand aside and she let out a little whimper before he lifted her up, weightless in the water and caught a nipple between his teeth biting down hard and breaking the dam inside her. She came shaking in his arms, her legs stopped treading water and hung limp beside him as she gave in to the waves of satisfaction washed over her. He hummed, his face laid against her skin between her breasts,  
           “Anything else you want?” this time she was lost in the moment and didn’t need too much encouragement to speak up,  
          “Fuck me Arthur” that was all he needed and he pulled her down onto his cock filling her up and bringing her muscles clamping down on him. He placed his hands on her waist and lifted her again before pushing her down and making her groan loudly at the feeling inside,  
           “Fuck me Arthur” she said again as he lifted her and brought her down, his feet firmly planted on the ocean floor. She started to move her hips against him, crying out as every motion rocked her to the core and with the help of him lifting and pushing her down they got faster until she couldn’t take it anymore, the bliss inside her almost painful, she threw her head back and screamed into a sky of pinks and blues, the sun rising behind them,  
           “AAAARRRRTHUUR” and spilled herself into the sea, at the sound of his name Maxson growled and thrust deep into her and came himself.

\--------------------------

          She couldn’t look anyone in the eye, she knew they had all heard them having sex before but this was different. Afterwards he’d helped her get to shore, dressed her and then taken her to his room where they showered together to wash all the radiated water from their skin before they both dressed, ready for the day. Lorelai was sure someone must have seen and the whole web of secrets between them would be pulled apart but no, no one seemed to care. Now it was more than a week later and she hadn’t seen Maxson in quite some time, it was how it went sometimes, she would be busy on missions or he would need to work, whilst she could normally distract him, sometimes it was just too important and he’d wave her away. Finally she got to see him, in a meeting, as he addressed the room he kept looking at her, they had learnt long ago that few people looked directly at him when he spoke so they could usually stare into each other's eyes even in a room full of people. This time though he kept glancing down at her stomach, she tried to maintain eye contact, wanting to look into his eyes and see what he was thinking but he just kept looking down his face confused. She knew she had gained some weight lately and had no idea where it was coming from since she was active and ate the same as the rest of the soldiers but did Maxson see it? was he looking at her in disgust? She knew he loved her body and she also knew that in the past he had a habit of taking his pick from the crew, if he was thinking she was getting too fat then… oh god she couldn’t lose him just because of this. She couldn’t stay there any longer and turned to leave the room,  
         “Knight Thomson, how dare you leave whilst I’m speaking” she heard his voice say behind her but she just kept on walking. She shut herself in the bathroom and struggled with her thoughts… if he just cast her aside she wouldn’t be able to stay there, the only thing that kept her connected to the brotherhood was him. It would make this tough decision easier for her if… but she didn’t want this.

\---------------------------

          The next few days she tried to avoid him and successfully too, he seemed to be doing the same, a thought which made her hurt more than ever. At least the last memory she had of them together was a good one and she could hold onto it forever no matter what came, she was deep in thought about this when she walked into a solid wall of muscle. Her head snapped up to Maxson’s face,  
          “Knight Thomson” he said, a little coldly and her heart dropped,  
          “Elder Maxson” she said, determined to be just as cold, if he was going to cast her aside for a younger prettier thing then she wasn’t going to show her pain,  
          “I would like to see you in my quarters this evening Knight, there are some things we need to discuss about your performance” and with that he turned and left, she wondered if maybe he would do this whole thing formally, or if he just wanted to fuck her one last time before ending it. He really was a monster like they all said if he would treat her that way but after everything she still wasn’t so sure, maybe what she had thought of as a slipping of the mask had actually been him pretending to care for her all along.

\------------------------

          That night she knocked gingerly on his door and felt her heart drop when it opened, she had hoped she wouldn’t have to do this after all, that maybe he would just forget her. She walked in silently, not even bothering to greet him and stood looking into his eyes with the best attempt she could make at fierce determination,  
          “Please, sit down Lorelai” he gestured at a chair by the table  
          “I’d rather stand” she crossed her arms in front of her and just stared into his face, he looked hurt and frustrated well if that was how he was going to be so be it,  
          “You are such a frustrating woman” he said, sitting down himself and pouring one glass of whiskey (yes, just one, she didn’t even get to have Dutch courage for this) he took a sip and rubbed his eyes,  
          “You used to like that about me” she said, he looked up at her shocked for a second before the same weary frustration set back in,  
           “Used to, what do… Lorelai do you think I’m breaking up with you?”  
           “Well yes… why else would you avoid me for days, bring me here, not pour me a drink and sit there looking like I’ve done something wrong”  
          “Avoid you? you were avoiding me, I thought you didn’t want to tell me… Look Lorelai if there’s someone else”  
          “Someone else… how dare you accuse me when you’re the one casting me aside like all the others”  
          “All the…. all what others?”  
          “All the women before me, you use them up and cast them aside”  
          “Is that what you think? Lorelai it’s not like that at all, some of them… I never… look will you just sit down and let me explain” she deflated somewhat and reluctantly sat down before he continued to speak “in the past there have been women yes, some of them I attempted to… form a relationship with, it never worked out, believe it or not it’s hard to find someone who you can bond with when you are their boss… others… well some were arrangements, I would need someone and they would know what it was, sex, no commitment… I never meant to use anyone up and cast them aside”  
          “Oh… I suppose that makes sense” she felt bad for her remark, then remembered something he’d said “why did you ask if there was someone else?”  
          “Well I thought maybe you weren’t telling me because it was someone else’s… why else would you avoid me like this?”  
          “What was someone else’s?” she was confused and the smell of the whiskey was making her light headed and a little nauseous,  
          “You don’t know? oh good god Lorelai think… when was your last period?”  
          “What? that’s a very personal…. ohh… ohh god… I don’t know, I’ve been so busy with all the missions I just didn’t think about it… my pip boy tracks this stuff” she lifted it and found her way to the stats and looked for the tell-tale signs in archive… one month back… two months back… three months… four and there it was her last period all that way back “shit”  
          “Lorelai? how long ago?”  
          “Three months… three fucking months… that’s why you didn’t pour me a drink?” it was all coming together now, the slow weight gain, the nausea she kept feeling, it all made sense but… a baby “what are we going to do?”  
          “What do you mean what are we going to do, this is wonderful news” he paled at the look on her face “you can’t mean…”  
          “No… I don’t know what I mean… Arthur this will mean an end to my secrets” and a whole new complication, how would she explain this to Deacon?  
          “I know but isn’t it worth that, we could be together and raise a child together and you’d be carrying on the Maxson line” she screwed up her face at this, all that stuff about the Maxson line made her feel sick, she didn’t want her baby to grow up thinking it was a little king,  
          “You know I don’t care about all that Maxson line crap, you know I don’t think you were forged from eternal steel… if I ever have a child again it will be me having a baby with the man I love and that’s all that matters”  
          “Could I be that man?” she looked at him, so small and helpless right now,  
          “Do you want to be?” she couldn’t imagine Maxson loving anyone but himself… she had told him she loved him a long time ago and he’d said nothing, since then it never came up and she had had to bite her tongue a hundred times to stop the words spilling out,  
          “Of course I do Lorelai… you mean so much to me”  
          “But do you love me?” she wasn’t going to say it first again, she couldn’t deal with that kind of rejection right now,  
          “Yes” the answer took her as something of a shock, it wasn’t the one she’d expected and the last thing she had thought he would say when she knocked on his door thinking he was going to break up with her… but then she realised,  
           “You’re not just saying that because of the… baby?” he looked up at her hurt,  
           “Lorelai, haven’t I shown you every day that I love you?” she thought back over the events of the last year and realised that he had done so many little things to let her know that, in his own possessive way he did love her and wanted nothing more than to keep her safe. when she didn’t speak for a while he spoke up instead “I’m not exactly the best with words but Lorelai I love you, I love the very bones of you and I want nothing more than to keep you safe and by my side”  
          “I love you too and I’m sorry”  
          “About what my love?” he stood up and walked over to her chair before crouching at her side and taking her in his arms,  
          “Well I told you I love you once and you didn’t reply, I kept it in after that, maybe if I had been truthful about my feelings…”  
          “It seems neither of us are good at feelings”  
          “No that is definitely the truth…. I suppose I’ll have to go see cade”  
          “I… em… am I going to be a father?”  
          “I don’t know… I have somethings to think over… I’m sorry Arthur… I love you” she untangled herself from his arms and left the room, she wanted to sleep in her own bed that night and tomorrow, tomorrow she would have to see the doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh... it's been a few days since I posted last, I moved house.
> 
> Thank you everyone who has read this and liked it... your comments make me happy :)


	15. Lorelei Goes To The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit to Case might end up confirming what she already knows and if it does that opens up some serious questions for Lorelai

          She was sat on a folding bed in the infirmary, a screen all that was protecting her decency as Cade poked around inside her with some odd stick thing… suffice to say it wasn’t a pleasurable experience. All she could think was that she wanted Arthur there but that would definitely have given them up and soon everyone on the ship would know and she couldn’t exactly make him look at a baby she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep,  
          “Yes… I see it” Cade pulled her from her reverie, pointing at a screen “there it is, it would seem you are around two and a half months pregnant”  
          “That’s a baby?” she’d been through this whole process long ago but had forgotten about all of this, all the discomfort, everyone asking personal questions and just how tiny a baby was at that point, it looked like a little jelly bean on the screen,  
          “Yes and we need to talk about steps after this” he pulled the… thing… from inside her and passed her a cloth before stepping to the other side of the curtain. She pulled her jeans up, they were already a bit too tight around her growing stomach and she could kick herself for not figuring this out sooner. Once she was dressed and somewhat calmer she joined the doctor to talk this through,  
          “Now Knight Thompson” he said to her, serious all of a sudden “despite the usual urging of Brotherhood soldiers to procreate in order to keep up the population the general policy of the brotherhood on these matters are that we would urge you to… terminate… whilst in active duty, a pregnant woman aboard the ship would be a drain on our supplies and medical care”  
          “Oh trust me you’ll want me to have this baby” shit did she say that out loud… oh god, when did she get this vocal, she was never this much of a talker,  
          “Excuse me… is there something you aren’t telling me Miss Thomson” the judgemental bastard put a lot of emphasis on the miss,  
          “It’s not important” well that was a lie, it was only just creeping into her mind just how much this baby would mean for the Brotherhood,  
          “Anyway as I was about to say, should you choose to keep the baby you will be immediately removed from active duty, in other circumstances the soldier would be sent back to the capital or to their families. Is the father a serving member of the Brotherhood?”  
          “I wouldn’t say serving but yes” what was with her mouth today… must be the hormones,  
          “Is he an active member of our forces?” he seemed to be getting more and more irritated with her… if only he knew, he’d probably let her use him as a footstool… why did that idea turn her on so much, fucking hormones,  
          “Yes, he is” this seemed to displease him and she didn’t really understand why,  
          “In that case whether you keep the baby or not it is policy to inform the father and I must ask who it is” ah, that’s why he looked unhappy, he was going to have to wheedle that out of her, no chance buster,  
          “I can’t tell you” she said, she was sure she was far more stubborn than him,  
          “I assure you that you can, it will go no further than this office and the boy in question”  
          “Why did you say boy?” change the subject,  
          “Excuse me?”  
          “Why did you say boy and not man?”  
          “Well… it was just a turn of phrase… I suppose I’d not expect someone mature and grown up enough to be called man to get an active soldier pregnant” this made her laugh, loudly, god Cade if only you knew who you were talking about,  
          “Sorry… hormones”  
          “That said I must inform the father”  
          “I can’t tell you but I have told him myself”  
          “I’m afraid I can’t take your word on that” it went on like this for a whole ten minutes before he gave in, marking the father on the sheet as unknown (the cheek) she assured him that she would go straight to the father and discuss this with him. She still hadn’t made a decision but she was sure the great Maxson would be happy to know that she really was pregnant either way.

\---------------------------

          “Please Lorelai” he begged her, she’d told him all about the appointment with Cade and he was begging her “I want us to have this baby”  
          “I don’t want everyone to know”  
          “To know what? That I’m madly in love with you? That you’re mine and always will be?”  
          “You’re not going to stop telling me you love me now are you?”  
          “Don’t change the subject Knight… and no” she smiled at him,  
          “Look there’s two more people I need to talk to first”  
          “I assume one of them is Danse”  
          “Yes” got it in one,  
          “And exactly why should he know about our child?”  
          “Because he’s the only one who knows about our relationship, I need to talk to someone who isn’t… you” she desperately wanted to talk to Danse, he would help her think this out, normally so would Deacon but… oh god he was going to hate her for this. Even though he’d never actually said it… not directly, she knew Deacon loved her and so did Danse, sometimes she hated that her two best friends felt that way about her, actually she always hated it but she would fight tooth and nail to keep them her friends,  
          “And the other is that Railroad spy you keep sneaking off to?” how the hell did he know her so well,  
          “If you knew about him why didn’t you stop me? Well other than that one time you yelled at me for it”  
          “Because it’s doing no harm and it seems to make you happy”  
          “I… I didn’t think you’d… do something like that for me”  
          “No wonder you didn’t think I love you… did you know I save the best food and the best drinks for you too?”  
          “No I didn’t”  
          “And that I made sure you had time to sneak off to do whatever it is you do down on the ground” ok he was getting silly now “and that I got Proctor Ingram to pay special attention to your power armour… you really aren’t that good at fixing it yourself”  
          “No, I didn’t know any of that”  
          “Well now you do and I suppose you will be telling that Railroad… friend… of yours about our child, Lorelai why do so many people get input on this?”  
          “Could you imagine how many people would be on your side? those two are the only people I trust to be honest and not just cry out about the Maxson name”  
          “I will let you do as you wish but… let my voice be the loudest”  
          “Well first off my voice is going to be the loudest but when it comes to everyone else yours is the loudest by far”

\-------------------------

          Danse was first, she knocked on the door of his quarters, he would either be in there or in the armour bay… it turns out he was in the armour bay which obviously complicated things,  
          “Danse” she said nervously as she walked up to him,  
          “Yes Knight Thomson” he was on his back doing something with the feet of his power armour, she could barely see him and he didn’t bother to look up,  
          “It’s Lorelai, can I talk to you”  
          “I am rather busy Knight Thomson”  
          “This is important”  
          “Yes well this is important to the Brotherhood and not just your love life”  
          “Danse please… I need you” that made him move quick enough he slid out from his spot behind the power armour “besides I think what I’ve got to say is more important to the Brotherhood than what you’re doing”  
          “Knight Thomson what on earth could you have to say that has that much import to the Brotherhood, don’t think of yourself too highly Knight” he was angry, why was he angry,  
          “I don’t… you know I don’t think like that” she could feel tears coming… god damn hormones, she tried to gulp down the lump in her throat “please can we talk”  
          “Of course Knight” the look on her face must have done it, he glanced at her and all anger faded “go ahead”  
          “Not here, follow me” she lead him to the forecastle, the wind whipping around them, she was glad she had tied her hair up. He looked at her all confusion and worry,  
          “Why have you brought me all the way out here Lorelai?”  
          “I want your opinion on something and you need to tell me the truth… all of it”  
          “This is serious isn’t it”  
          “Yes” she pulled in a deep breath to steady herself “I’m pregnant” his face froze in shock, his eyes wide, he stood like that for far too long “are you going to say anything?”  
          “And it’s the Elders?”  
          “Of course it is what do you think I am?” she was genuinely getting offended by this now,  
          “No I didn’t think anything I just… it was the first thing that popped into my head, this is…. this is…. something” he looked like his brains were about to leak out of his nose and Lorelai couldn’t help but laugh “you’re laughing, so this is a joke?”  
          “No, sorry my hormones are everywhere, I kept letting things slip out of my mouth to Cade and you know I think carefully about everything I say but now I can’t keep my mouth shut and oh my god is this really all one sentence” she finished out of breath and a little giddy,  
          “Yes that is very unlike you… does Cade know?”  
          “No and god you should have heard the things he was saying Danse… he said something about the father being immature and foolish god if he’d known who he was really talking about”  
          “You’ll have to rub that in later” he realised what he’d said and his face went flat,  
          “Later… so you think I should keep it?”  
          “Yes! I had assumed... are you not happy about it?”  
          “It’s not that it’s just... It makes everything so complicated”  
          “You know how I feel about you Lorelai, if it were… me in his place I would do all I could for that child and I am a man of the Brotherhood so I have to think what this child would mean for all of us”  
          “I know… the Maxson line”  
          “Yes… I’m sure you don’t want to hear it that way but Lorelai, inside you is the best hope for the Brotherhood to continue being this strong into the future”  
          “I know… I suppose I just wanted to hear about how you really feel”  
          “I’m happy for you Lorelai… I know you love Elder Maxson and however much I wish it were me I’m happy for both of you”  
          “Thank you… for being honest”

\-------------------------

          Deacon would be harder, she knew it and deep down she already knew what he’d say. She found her way to HQ in the early hours, everyone was asleep so she looked for Deacon and laid down on the mattress beside him and fell asleep. She woke up to him holding her, his warm body wrapped around her, it felt nice and her mind wandered to how things could have turned out were it not for all of this. His eyes flickered and he stirred, jumping a little when he realised there was someone beside him, in his arms, but he didn’t pull away just looked up at her,  
          “Am I still dreaming beautiful” he asked groggily,  
          “Nope, I’m real” she said with a smile,  
          “Ahh but dream you would say the same thing”  
          “Well I’m still real… you must have just wished really really hard”  
          “I must have… what brings you to our super secret headquarters?”  
          “We need to talk” she said to him suddenly serious,  
          “Have the brotherhood decided to kill us all?”  
          “No not yet, it’s more important that that”  
          “More important that our slaughter at the hands of the brotherhood… well I’m all ears”  
          “Not here… put a disguise on and meet me outside” she got up with only a little difficulty and headed out the secret entrance to the super secret base. After a while Deacon joined her, dressed in the same damn outfit as drummer boy. They walked along the seafront for a little while in silence, she wasn’t sure how to shape the idea to fit it into his head, after a while she just came out with it,  
          “Deeks I’m pregnant” he surprised her by looking really excited,  
          “NO WAY… that’s great… a little mini you” he was practically jumping around,  
          “So you aren’t mad?”  
          “Why would I be… oh… yea… it takes two to tango” and the other shoe dropped,  
          “Exactly”  
          “Well I’m no more mad at you than I am for falling in love with the dick, I think that reached maximum angry so everything else is just… whatever” he managed to look serious for a second, a rare feat for Deacon “I suppose this means you chose your side”  
          “Not necessarily… I don’t know if I’m going to keep it” she said, when she reached up protectively to her belly though she knew how she really felt and in that moment she knew nothing Deacon said would change her mind,  
          “You should… it’s your baby and you are so much more than him, you could raise it better, give it the chance of running the Brotherhood better than it’s dad”  
          “You really think so?”  
          “Course, no child of yours is going to end up that much of a psychopath… maybe you’ll mellow out it’s dad too. Actually I quite like it, it's like infiltration from the inside”  
          “I’m still going to be here for the railroad, like a great voice in the Brotherhood ear only… I don’t think Arthur is going to let me out of his sight for a while”  
          “So this is goodbye for a while?”  
          “Yes… goodbye for a while” he hugged her gingerly and walked away, she knew neither of them really believed she’d come back, not completely. She knew she would try her hardest to still be part of the railroad but with a child and Maxson on her back she might never get the chance.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing Deacon in this, he'll I always really enjoy writing Deacon he's a great character.


	16. The Decision is Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai finally makes the hardest decision of her life.

          Maxson was on the flight deck talking to Captain Kells when she found him, he looked so good stood there silhouetted in the big windows and her heart leapt into her throat, she wanted to run to him and tell him right there but… she didn’t want this moment to be shared with the Captain. Once they were done she saluted Kells and he saluted back before leaving, she sidled over to Maxson and looked him deep in the eyes,  
          “So?” he asked, clearly impatient “have you made a decision”  
          “Yes”  
          “And that is?” at that point a scribe walked towards them, clearly wanting the attention of the Elder, without taking his eyes off her for a second he pointed at the poor man and shouted “SO HELP ME GOD IF YOU TAKE ONE STEP CLOSER I WILL THROW YOU OFF THIS SHIP MYSELF… go ahead Lorelai” the scribe backed away in panic,  
           “I’m keeping it… you’re going to be a dad” he grabbed her and pulled her into a tender kiss, by now a few people had gathered wanting his attention but neither of them cared, this was their moment and they were going to have it all to themselves. Everyone in the room was gawking by the time they pulled apart, more people had gathered just to look at the spectacle of their Elder kissing a woman so lovingly,  
           “WHAT ARE YOU ALL GAWKING AT?” Maxson yelled “you… yes you there, find Proctor Ingram, tell her I need to make an announcement and I want everyone to hear it”  
           “Really? now?” she looked up at him a little scared about the idea of everyone knowing right then and there but really they’d all know by tonight anyway,  
          “Yes now” he turned to someone else “you… bring all the senior staffers here right away… and Paladin Danse”  
          “Why Danse?”  
          “I figured you’d want him here”

\---------------------------

In about ten minutes everyone was gathered and Ingram had set up a speaker in front of Maxson to broadcast to the rest of the Prydwen and the airport, that seemed to suffice. it was quite amaising how quickly tjings could get done when Maxson was in this sort of mood. Arthur had insisted on her getting a chair and sitting her in it whilst people busied around and some of the gathering of Brotherhood heads kept looking at her like she shouldn’t be there. She kept hearing whispers of,  
          “Who does she think she is?” and “why is she here” she’d expected it but it still hurt, only every time she looked a Danse and his beaming face she felt better and Maxson kept coming over and whispering in her ear about their future,  
           “Ahhhhem” Maxson cleared his throat into the microphone “I have gathered you all to make an announcement of great importance, as you all know we have come to the Commonwealth to wage war against the institute and save these people from an evil that threatens all of humankind. It is a mission of great importance and one I hold close to my heart but I personally have found something more here in the Commonwealth….” he moved over and took Lorelai’s hand, pulling her out of the seat and up to the mike with him “I have found companionship, even love, I have found the woman I want to make my wife… if she will have me”  
          There were mad gasps around the room and Lorelai looked at him with wide eyes, motioning for him to come closer she moved herself so that her mouth was at his ear,  
          “Is this because of the baby?” she whispered,  
          “No, this is because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you” he whispered back,  
          “In that case yes” she kept her voice low,  
          “You might want to say that into the microphone so it doesn’t sound like I’m stood here alone” he told her beaming, she looked frightened for a second then realised what she wanted to say, she leaned into the mike and spoke up to all of the Brotherhood,  
          “I’m glad you all welcomed me to the brotherhood and made me feel like part of your family and yes… I would like to marry you Arthur Maxson” it was brief but eloquent, she leaned back and he pulled her into a brief kiss, she looked at Danse and could have sworn she saw him cry,  
           “I am glad to also announce” Maxson continued into the mike “that she is expecting my child, there will soon be a new Maxson to continue our proud line”  
          They could hear screams and shouts from the rest of the ship, everyone seemed to be celebrating and Lorelai supposed she would let them have their moment before putting some rules down about how she wanted her baby to be brought up. Some people would just assume he had asked her to marry him just because of the baby but she knew how he really felt and that’s what mattered in the end. She looked over at her lover… well her fiancé now and saw him really beaming for the first time and she knew then exactly how he felt and her face split into a smile too, he rushed over and hugged her, lifting her from her feet in a big warm bear hug.

\-------------------------------

            That night they were in his quarters, he had been offered a lot of drinks and a lot of cigars, she had just been given congratulations, what with the whole other human growing inside her. Maxson was a little drunk but he never took it too far, just enough to feel warm and happy, she was sat on his lap when he shuffled her off,  
          “I didn’t want to do this in front of everyone, I thought something more private was in order” knelt down in front of her and pulled out a ring, it was beautiful, like a diamond flower “Lorelai Thomson… will you marry me?”  
           “I already said yes”  
           “This is… different, you say yes now I know it’s real”                                                                  “Then yes” he jumped up, put the ring on her finger and kissed her,  
          “I suppose you’ll be moving in here now?” he looked about the place like he was seeing it for the first time and didn’t exactly like what he saw “it’s not really much”  
          “It’s got you in it” she said, resting her arms on his shoulders “and I have to be honest, this pregnancy thing is making me really really horny”  
           “Really?” he raised an eyebrow suggestively before suddenly looking worried “will I have to be really careful?”  
           “I had an idea about that” she said “sit down… I actually brought something with me”  
He obligingly sat down, she suspected it was more curiosity than anything else at that point. She pulled a few things out of a bag she brought with her, one was long and thin and black,  
           “Take your top off” he did this happily and she deflated a little, at least until she got a good look at his chest, she bit her lip,  
           “Hands behind your back” she said aggressively,  
           “Why do you…” she cut him off with a smack on the arm from the riding crop in her hand (she had ridden horses before the war and still had a few bits of the kit lying around that she rescued from her house in Sanctuary)  
          “Hands behind your back” he did as she told him and honestly she was a little disappointed that he did, she was enjoying this, she took out the rope (also horse tack) and tied his hands to the chair. Next she knelt in front of him and undid his pants, pulling them down with a tug in one swift motion, she looked at his cock for a second, it was already quite hard,  
            “Tell me you love me” she said to him,  
            “I don’t really...” she cut him off with another swift crack of the whip to his chest, it left a red mark and she leaned down to lick it he moaned as she did, a noise that sent shivers through her,  
            “Say it” this time the whip came down on his shoulders,  
            “I love you” it came out like a strangled moan that made her quiver, she put her legs either side of him and sat down on his knees, leaning forward to lick the red mark across his shoulders. He shuddered and leaned into her, she pulled back and cast him with a look of derision “god I can feel how wet you are on my legs”  
           SMACK she stood and swiftly brought the whip down on his legs where she’d been stood before bending to lick it again, she could taste herself there and it made her moan. she settled back down and he winced a little at the contact on the fresh mark across his knees, but then he grunted and his cock grew even larger in front of her and she knew he was loving this too. She grabbed the base of his cock and he shook with longing, she let go and walked away, settling herself down on the bed and just looking at him as he started to struggle,  
           “Come over here right now or I’ll…” he said as he struggled,  
           “You’ll what?” she strode over to him, all confidence and whipped him again across his muscular abdomen before kneeling in front of him again and, once again licking the red mark there, she felt his cock run across her face and ignored it making him all the more furious. God this was hot, she loved just looking at him so mad and so helpless, right now he was hers and that fact made her shake in anticipation. She lowered herself onto his cock and pulled in a rasping breath as he filled her, he grunted and made to move his hips but she leaned back and brought the whip down on his arm again,  
             “Don’t move” she started to wriggle her hips, making circle like motions and panting as he slipped around inside her, she was slow, teasingly so and every time Maxson made to move his hips she whipped him again. Eventually when he hadn’t moved for a while she started to speed up crying out at her own pleasure as she felt his cock moving in and out of her. He moved his hips again, she slowed and whipped him again, making sure he got the message before speeding up again. It was over an hour and a lot of red marks later that she was finally lifting herself off him and slamming back down quick enough to bring a scream from her lips she was panting and moving with all her might and the familiar white hot pressure was building inside her. Arthur’s hips started to thrust into her but she didn’t care anymore, she was so close teetering on the blissful edge of her release,  
            “LORELAI” she heard him shout as he came inside her and she tumbled down, down into the pit of ecstasy, shaking and spasming as he was buried deep inside her, pulling her orgasm out as long as she could. She collapsed onto him her head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her, she looked up at him confused,  
           “You think I can’t get out of soft ropes?” he said with a shrug “you’ll just have to try harder next time”  
           “Next time” she muttered into his shoulder,  
           “Yes next time… I can stand doing that again, only give me a half hour and I get to show you just how gentle I can be”  
           “It’s a deal” she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the happy chemicals running through her body, heightened by the touch of his skin and the feeling of safety in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably important disclaimer: if you're going to play around with whips and crops and such make sure you know what you're doing, it can be quite dangerous... though I'm sure you big gang of sinners know that already.


	17. The Danse Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can probably all guess what happens in this chapter and if you can't you've been living under a rock... spoilers for Blind Betrayal.

          Lorelai felt huge, she was just over seven months pregnant and couldn’t fit into any of her old clothes, she had been walking around the Prydwen in a loose dress for days. Her mind was at the moment on other things as Maxson… Arthur… had just scooped her up like she was made of air and didn't contain a whole other human and sat her on the table in his quarters. He lifted up her pyjama top (he'd been quite amused when she'd requested pyjamas) and started gently kissing a trail down her growing belly muttering words of encouragement to his unborn child. She giggled when he told it (they didn't know the sex, she didn’t want to know) to cover it's ears then looked up at her with a filthy smile before continuing down further. He pushed her onto her back and tucked his thumbs in her soft pyjama bottoms tugging them off with no ceremony whatsoever. As his kisses trailed down her hair and the top of her lips she thought about how she had worried he wouldn't find her attractive at this size but really he was hungrier than ever for her,  
          “Fuck…” she muttered as his expert tongue flicked teasingly at her clit, he pulled away and tutted,  
          “Is that any language to use in front of the child?” he chided, a cheeky grin softening his rough face,  
          “Shut up and get on with it” she reached around her stomach with a little difficulty and grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling him back down. He growled and returned where he left off, causing Lorelai to keen in pleasure and jut her hips further into his face,  
          “You taste so fucking good” he growled as he slipped two fingers inside her and coiled them gently, sucking hard at her nub and making her cry out as a ripple of shock ran through her, easing off into rapture. He pulled away and she pouted at him, “Up, now” Maxson grunted, a noise that sent shivers through her as she obeyed (with a little assistance). He sat and she looked at him confused for a moment before he took hold of her hips and turned her, easing her down onto his cock like she was just sat in his lap. A quavering moan escaped her lips, every sensation was heightened since she got pregnant, she was in a constant state of arousal and he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Lorelai had to steel herself against getting too carried away as she lifted herself and felt the stiffness of his dick slide in and out of her, she could barely contain the urge to slam down and take him into her up to the hilt. Her pants and groans grew louder as she increased the pace, grinding her teeth as she felt her insides coil around him and fought against losing control of her own body amongst the mind numbing orgasm that crept up on her,  
          “I love watching your arse like this” Arthur panted into her ear, “let me watch you come” the tickle of his breath on her neck and the dirty way he spoke to her was her undoing, she toppled into the pit of ecstasy with a scream. Lorelai, numb to the world didn't notice her lover leaning back and looking down with a lecherous grin as she came undone. A feeling of weightlessness brought her back to reality, still inside her and moving his hips the whole time he had picked her up, one hand holding her hip and the other looped through one of her arms. He laid her face down on the bed and began gently easing himself in and out of her, running his hands up and down her back as his hips picked up speed. It wasn't long before her muscles clamped around him and she came again, shaking and writhing with a long scream of his name.Maxson thrust into her a few times more, drawing out the sensation until she thought she might not be capable of holding onto her sanity, then with a guttural moan he joined her, filling her with his seed.

  
          After they had both caught their breath he ran a soft trail of kisses down her spine and helped her into the shower. The hot liquid running over her body eased what little tension was still left in her aching muscles, she closed her eyes and sighed tempted just to stay under the stream all day.

          Eventually Lorelai relinquished her spot and dressed as her lover… fiancé… future husband... showered. She was deep in happy thoughts when, hand in hand they both headed out to start the day.

\---------------------------------

          The mood on the ship was in a constant state of joy and Lorelai was finding it a little irritating. Her baby was the best hope for the future of the brotherhood and that unfortunately meant everyone from the little squires to all the department heads felt they could ask her anything at any time.

          To make things worse Arthur had ordered her to stay aboard the ship, she had argued, a lot but eventually relented when she realised she couldn’t fit into her flight suit. She waddled through the crowds of soldiers all grinning at her like fools and got grumpier with every face. That was until she saw one in particular, Danse had been a rock throughout the whole thing, the only person other than Maxson that she could vent to. Unlike Maxson her Paladin wasn't totally blissful at the turn of events, neither would he try to fix any of her problems in ridiculous ways (she had complained to Arthur that her feet hurt and he had ordered no less than three squires to follow her around and carry everything for her, she had marched right up to him all three trailing in her wake like ducklings and yelled until he gave in and let her carry things herself),  
          “Morning Paladin” she said smiling warmly at her friend across a bristling mess hall,  
          “How are you Knight Thomson?” he asked her earnestly, she tried to sit down at the table but they were set up like pre-war picnic tables and she just couldn't squeeze her belly into the space between the table and the seat no matter how many people jumped up to help her. Danse laughed at her clumsy attempts to twist and turn and come at it from a different angle earning him tuts and evil stares from the rest of the crew, “ok ok… give up Knight, this brings to mind an analogy about a round peg and a square hole, only the round peg is twice the size”  
          “Admitting defeat isn't exactly the Brotherhood way” she said, glaring at him for the peg and the size comments,  
          “A tactical retreat is sometimes necessary… we'll eat in the armour hangar” he unfolded himself from his own seat, picking up his bowl of sugar bombs and leading her through to the next room. It was blissfully quiet in there at this time, only Proctor Ingram being already busy with work so early. The two greeted her and Danse pulled two swivel chairs over to a metal table before insisting on helping Lorelai into one, “shall I go get you some breakfast?”  
          “They won't have what I'm craving” she tried not to sound too grumpy but failed spectacularly,  
          “Well you know the cooks will make anything for you at any time” he pointed out, that had been another of Maxson’s orders but one she had been happy for when she woke at 3am craving mashed Tatoes,  
          “I don't want special treatment, I'm getting so fed up of everyone kowtowing to me” Danse looked at her blankly “kowtow means bow… well pretty much anyway… it means I'm fed up of everyone bending to my whims”  
           “You have the most powerful man in the Commonwealth, maybe even the whole country bending to your whims so of course everyone else is”  
           “Oh but you know how ridiculous Arthur gets” she realised too late that she had said that too loudly, thankfully Ingram just laughed subtly “do you remember the night he had to spend on the ground so he ordered you to sleep outside the door to his quarters in case I needed anything… he was gone for ONE NIGHT”  
           “I don’t know if it's appropriate to talk about the Elder like that Knight Thomson” Danse said very formally with furtive glances around the room,  
           “I don't mind” Ingram spoke up from the other side of the room, a chuckle clear in her voice,  
           “It's not that that's the problem” he said loud enough for Ingram to hear before lowering his voice to an almost whisper “the Elder is a very powerful and well respected man and it isn't a good idea to undermine that”  
           “Danse, right now I'm a woman having a bit of a whine about my fiancé and the father of my baby being overprotective… it’s not like I do it in front of everyone”  
           “I still don't feel comfortable with this line of conversation, not aboard the Prydwen”  
           “Auuugghhhhh I can’t wait to be able to get off this goddamn ship” she threw her hands in the air with an exasperated groan,  
           “That aside, what can I get you for breakfast?” he asked, patiently changing the subject,  
           “Oh yea that's where this conversation started… eggs, anything with eggs” Danse disappeared and returned some time later with a tray full of devilled eggs. She sighed at how much there was but accepted the offering and ate what little she could.

\----------------------------

           Marching up and down the ship was the only thing that could distract her right now. Danse had left on a mission into the glowing sea for bombs for the giant robot she wasn’t even allowed to see and he had been gone almost two weeks. Originally she should have been with him but for obvious reasons (being a prisoner on a huge floating ship, power armour not coming in maternity sizes etc) she couldn’t go and he'd been sent with another knight whose name she couldn’t remember. A squire approached her gingerly, and had to follow her up and down when she would not stop pacing as he breathlessly told her that the Elder wished to speak with her immediately.

  
           Walking back through the ship towards the flight deck she could feel her worry growing and the furtive glances of the crew were not helping. Once she saw Maxson stood tense in front of the big windows she could feel the room and knew something was very very wrong, he turned when he heard her enter a look of rage and… something else… regret, betrayal maybe, on his handsome face,  
           “Knight, is there something you wish to tell me?” Lorelai was confused by the official way in which her future husband addressed her but was smart enough to know when to go along with it,  
           “No nothing sir” she tried not to spit out the last word but it just wouldn't leave her mouth otherwise,  
           “You mean to say you spend as much time as you do with… it… and it never told you?” she had no idea what he was talking about but she could feel the anger rising like bile in her throat,  
           “Are you accusing me of lying sir” she just couldn't call him sir without feeling like she was spitting the word at his feet,  
           “You are genuine aren't you?” his official facade slipped for a second as he looked into her eyes, apologies on the tip of his tongue “Proctor Quinlan has decoded the data on the holotape you brought back from the institute, on it was a list of escaped synths and on that list was Paladin Danse”  
           “No… no that's clearly a mistake”  
           “I assure you it is not, with each name is a DNA sample, that is something we also hold on every soldier on this ship, they are a match” he said it so matter of factly, like the man she loved hadn’t just pulled away the last friend she had in her isolation,  
          “No, it's wrong”  
          “There was also a photograph, Danse is a synth and I will be sending a party out to execute him”  
          “NO”  
          “He is an abomination and he needs to be put down”  
          “You won't even give him a chance to defend himself?”  
          “How can he defend himself against cold hard facts?”  
          “I'll go, I'll talk to him and if I need to I'll execute him” she tried to stare him down but his rage just burned all the brighter,  
          “You will do no such thing, you carrying the future of the Brotherhood and will remain here until the child is born” her eyes widened at the implied threat there, if you don't play along we will take your baby,  
          “You listen to me Arthur Maxson, if you want Danse dead you will do it yourself, you will look him in the eye as you do it and you will take me with you or I swear to god you will never see me again”  
           “As soon as the child is born you are free to leave, I'm not keeping you prisoner Lorelai” his voice softened but it wasn't enough to cool her temper,  
           “No you'll just take my baby away from me… I… I can't be here I can't do this… I'm going to find my friend and I am doing it without your help”  
           “How Lorelai?”  
           “I'll fly a damn Vertibird myself if I have to but I will leave and you will regret making the decision to kill my friend” she charged away, tears streaming from her eyes and she heard Maxson sigh behind her and tell scribe to prep a Vertibird to take her anywhere she wanted to go. He relented, he wasn’t going to rip her baby from her but… she had to get out of there, had to think clearly.

  
           The cold of the outside hit her and she could feel the fresh air washing away her anger as she made to climb aboard the Vertibird with no idea where she could go,  
           “KNIGHT THOMPSON, KNIGHT THOMPSON!” she could hear the shouts of her name, though barely over the roar of the wind and the many engines. Turning she saw Scribe Haylen running towards her and she struggled to reverse herself back down the ladder to talk to the woman,  
           “Yes scribe Haylen?” she said as she was lifted down from the vertibird ladders,  
           “I… I may know where Danse is but please don't kill him, not before hearing him out” the poor thing was almost in tears as she begged for her friends life, Lorelai pulled her aside to talk where they wouldn't be overhead,  
           “I will hear him out, you have my word scribe and… I will do all I can to save him”  
           “He will most likely be at listening post Bravo, he picked it as a place to fall back to when we were in the Commonwealth, thank you Knight”  
           “Thank you… I'll do everything I can” Lorelai smiled at the scribe and turned away back towards the vertibird that would carry her away from here, perhaps never to return.

\------------------------------

           Danse followed her out of the Bunker, she had made the Vertibird land a mile or so away and hiked the rest of the way here only to be met by a suicidal Paladin. Thankfully she had persuaded him to carry on living for the sake of those who cared about him and he followed her up and back into sunlight,  
          “Why is that THING not dead Knight?” the voice rang in her ears, she should have known he would follow her after all she was his favourite toy,  
          “What are you doing here Arthur” she was tired, her feet hurt and she was homeless, she couldn’t keep up the official charade any more,  
          “Why is it still alive?”  
          “He is still alive because he is human and he is my friend”  
          “It is a machine, it is a single bomb in an arsenal of bombs set to destroy this country again”  
          “Arthur, just, hear me out… you owe me that much”  
          “Fine, I'm listening” he stood tall and firm the tension clear in the way he held himself, Lorelai had to fight against every instinct she had to stop herself from going over and hugging him,  
           “As it stands right now I need to think long and hard about some things but if you insist on killing my friend I won't have to, I will see the real you and know just how much I mean to you. You kill him, you lose me forever” as she spoke Maxson’s face dropped, becoming softer, more vulnerable, he almost imperceptibly shook his head,  
           “Fine… but as far as I am concerned it is dead, when you return to the Prydwen you will not speak of this, as far as anyone else will know this… this… thing was executed and it's remains incinerated. It will no longer be permitted aboard the ship or speak to any brotherhood soldier, if it is seen it will be fired upon immediately”  
          “Thank you for believing in me Arthur” Danse said humbly,  
          “I am not doing this for you, you owe your very existence to her” Maxson pointed at Lorelai,  
          “So I have to pretend he's dead so you can save face Arthur?”  
          “Don’t push it Lorelai, now come on, let's go home” he held his hand out to her and she looked at it like he had just offered her a bug to eat,  
          “No, that wasn't the deal, I said I need some time to think, I’m sure you’ll be able to find me and don't send people with guns this time” she pointedly walked towards her own Vertibird, Danse had too much on his plate he didn’t need her too but she had other friends out there, other people she could turn to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is meant to be a very bug turning point in the story, the point where Maxson realises that he has gone too far... which seems far more fitting to the story.
> 
> Also daww overly protective annoyingly fussy Maxson.
> 
> Sorry I haven't been posting with any sort of schedule... I moved house (like a month ago now) and the internet man came but there were problems with a locked door and a landlord and now I have to wait another TWO WEEKS to get some sort of reliable internet in my flat... GAHHH!


	18. An Old Friend To The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai is pregnant and homeless and feels like she's lost everything so she turns to the one place anyone is welcome.

          Lorelai staggered forwards holding her full belly and crying, her feet hurt, her back hurt and her heart hurt, a deep unending ache that tickled in the back of her mind making every step heavy. She thought about Maxson’s face when she left him and what might happen to Danse now he had lost everything. She thought about Deacon who would be in the catacombs worrying about her, not knowing where she was. She was aware she had made a mistake asking the Vertibird to drop her too far from the church, worrying more about keeping the Railroad secret than keeping herself safe and now the miles ahead seem unending.

  
          The glow of neon caught her eye as her vision was spinning and she remembered what it meant through the dull ache taking over her senses, Goodneighbour, Hancock would be there and he would help her... maybe. He had helped her before but she hadn’t seen him since and she knew full well he was the type to hold grudges but she also knew she couldn’t make it further alone, not at nearly eight months pregnant. Through the gate she found the small bench that sat outside Daisy’s shop and, unable to take one more step, slumped into it feeling tears streaking down her face,  
           “FUCKING HELL girl... you look like a sight!” Lorelai lifted her face to see Daisy walking towards her, she plopped down on the bench next to her and smiled warmly, wrapping an arm around her heavy shoulders,  
          “I messed up Daisy” she allowed her head to fall onto the ghouls shoulder,  
          “Really... I wouldn’t have guessed from the state of you, do you want to come back into the shop?” Lorelai nodded and took the hands offered to help pull her from the bench and allowed Daisy to wrap one arm around her to help hold her up while they climbed the stairs into her little flat. She was lowered onto a battered old sofa and Daisy sat herself on a coffee table in front of her, her elbows resting on her knees and hands clasped together in front of her, the old ghoul looked worried, “Do you want to tell me what happened? Who’s the happy soon to be father?”  
          “It’s Maxson’s... don’t hate me but I thought... I thought so many things that turned out so wrong” her eyes welled up again, she knew she was pathetic right now, probably dirty and pale, she felt sick and all she wanted to do was sleep,  
          “I don’t hate you sweetheart, you made a mistake but... what happened?”  
          “I loved him, I still do but he showed me just how unbending he is today, he wanted to kill my best friend because he’s a synth and I told him he’d lose me forever if he did... I just had to get away, I need to think”  
          “Welcome to Goodneighbour, this place is home to all the people who’ve messed up or been let down, you’ll be safe here and I’m sure Hancock will want to see you”  
          “Arthur’s going to come for me... or for the baby”  
          “Well we can get to that when we get to it, first you need to rest” Daisy found her a pillow and a blanket and left her to it. All the thoughts that should have been running through her mind were struggling through the fog of fatigue and she felt herself drifting off to sleep easily.

\--------------------------------

          The sky was dark when Lorelai was woken from a deep sleep by shouting and footsteps on the creaking wooden stairs. Hancock was pushing his way past Daisy who was trying to block his path telling him to let her rest, the Mayor raised a brow in her direction,  
          “It’s ok... I’m rested Daisy, let him in” she said pulling off the blanket and sitting up as Daisy glared at her and let Hancock past,  
          “So, got a bun in the oven sunshine?” he asked as he sat down in the same spot Daisy had earlier and in much the same position with a worried look on his face,  
          “Is it that obvious?”  
          “When a tiny woman wanders into my town with a belly that big it ain’t exactly a massive stab in the dark... Daisy wouldn’t tell me anything” he lifted his hands to his face and sighed deeply, clearly he didn’t like not knowing things,  
          “She’s a good one Daisy... you probably guessed it’s Maxson’s?”  
          “Wasn’t too hard to figure that one out”  
          “He’ll come for me you know... I don’t know how far he’ll go to get me”  
          “I’m not gonna throw a pregnant friend out to save my own skin doll” he looked pained for a moment then rallied back to his usual cocky demeanour but she could still see the stress pulling at his eyes “You’re safe here... would be nice to see you when it’s not a life or death situation though”  
          “I can’t remember the last time I did anything that wasn’t life or death” they both chuckled and the tension between them dropped almost immediately,  
          “Come on... you can stay in the statehouse, got plenty of room” he stood up and offered her his hand, pulling her up from the sofa,  
          “I need to get in touch with someone” she said, following him down the stairs and thanking Daisy for her help,  
          “I kinda need to know who if I’m gonna help with that love”  
          “He’s... secretive”  
          “One of the railroad then?” she looked a little shocked “I know everything that goes on in this town... I’ll get them a message”

\-------------------------------

          The statehouse wasn’t exactly an uncomfortable place to hide, Hancock had given her a nice room with a comfortable bed and she had free reign to wander around Goodneighbour but she had to ignore the whispers that followed her wherever she went. A week after she turned up at Hancock’s doorstep she was pulled into his office by a silent Fahrenheit who clearly still hated her. To Lorelai’s surprise Deacon was stood there and ran up to pull her into a bear hug, letting her go he held her at arms length and looked her up and down,  
           “Thought you weren’t the hugging type Deeks?” she asked as he looked her over with a gaze covered by her sunglasses,  
           “Special times call for special measures... yada yada yada” he grinned at her “when’s the big day then?”  
           “I’m about eight months so pretty soon?” she told him, fondly stroking her stomach with a wistful smile,  
           “And the lucky daddy dearest is probably out looking for you?”  
           “I would assume so, he’ll want his favourite toy back” she looked away, a deep sadness taking her that she didn’t want to let Deacon see but of course he did,  
          “Hey babe, don’t worry so much I’m not going to let the best death bunny get hurt” he took her by the shoulders and moved himself around so he could look in her eyes “hey look at me... you can trust me”  
          “Trust the world’s best liar” she smiled weakly at him,  
          “Alright” he removed the sunglasses that she had suspected were wonderglued to his face and looked right into her eyes “trust me”  
          “I do Deeks, you’re one of the good guys... I have a favour to ask you” she felt nervous but Deacon just grinned and nodded for her to continue “do you remember Paladin Danse? Well he’s a synth and they found out... Maxson wanted to kill him but I persuaded him not to, he’s in listening post Bravo and I want you to help him, get him somewhere safe, take him to Sanctuary or something, I wish I could have him with me but he wouldn’t be safe”  
          “Consider it done... I’ll be back as soon as I can” she nodded at him and hugged her best friend goodbye with a sinking feeling that she couldn’t quite place.

          Deacon returned almost a month later, Danse was all set up in Sanctuary and feeling a little better about his true identity after a long and in depth conversation with Glory. It had surprised the spy that he was still spouting brotherhood ideals and asking to be ‘put down’ when him and Glory had turned up at the Bunker, it didn’t surprise Lorelai, she knew how much Danse cared about his brothers and sisters and how much the loss meant to him. Part of her wished Deacon had figured out a way to bring him there, to Goodneighbour to be with her, she missed her best friend but she also missed her lover... her fiancé if that’s what he still was.

  
          Still her stay in Goodneighbour hadn’t been all bad, her and Hancock were quickly becoming fast friends, they stayed up late into the night talking about anything and everything, they even spoke a fair bit about their past and she learned things about him she never would have guessed. The Mayor was kind and sweet and she found quickly that he was loyal and fiercely protective of his people, it meant a lot to her when he had told her that extended to her too with a cheeky grin. She wondered how life would have been if she’d found her way to Goodneighbour first and not the Brotherhood but thinking that way wouldn’t exactly fix the situation she was in now.

  
          With Deacon moved into the Hotel Rexford and Hancock offering whatever support she needed they awaited the birth with the usual joy surrounding the idea of a baby only marred by fears about what happened next. It was a long, long month, especially with the threat of the Brotherhood turning up constantly shadowing everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda messed with the geography of the Commonwealth for this one (didn't realise just how much until I did a bit of last minute fact checking just before posting and it was too late by then). For the purposes of this story lets pretend that Goodneighbour is a lot closer to the Railroad HQ than it actually is... if we all think hard enough then maybe I won't be so wrong.


	19. A Birth In Goodneighbour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big day is here and Lorelai is rethinking a few things. Lucky for her so is Arthur.

          “I WANT ARTHUR” Lorelai screamed as a contraction felt like it might rip her apart, Hancock was hanging about in the background looking about as scared as someone with his scarring could. Once she had been dosed up with as much Med-x as the doctor would allow the Mayor had run out of ways to make himself useful and instead just hovered while Daisy and Deacon helped her walk around the room to relieve the pain of each new contraction (it wasn’t really working).

          She’d been “in labour” for about six hours now and the contractions were coming about every four or five minutes and everyone in the room was panicked other than her and Daisy. In between fits of screaming and yelling Lorelai made a mental note to ask Daisy about that, the woman seemed to have a fair knowledge of childbirth... even down to what it felt like and Lorelai knew, as a mother already, that no one could understand this pain and discomfort just from a description.  
          “GET ME ARTHUR” she yelled as the next wave of pain hit,  
          “Come on Rory you know we can’t do that” Deacon pleaded with her, this resulted in his collar being grabbed and his whole body dragged so his face was an inch from hers,  
          “DO YOU REALLY WANT TO ARGUE WITH ME RIGHT NOW?” she barked into his terrified face. As the pain past she was left panting and let go of the spy who cowered away a little then rushed back to her side “sorry Deeks, I really do mean it though... is there some way we can get him here without everything going to shit?”  
          “I would not wanna argue again Deacon” Hancock said, pushing himself off the wall and pacing across the room, “I’ll figure something out... but if the whole damn Brotherhood army attacks my town I’m coming for you sweetheart”  
          “It’s a risk I’m willing to take... ohhhhhhh.... fuuuuCCCKKKK” and off she was screaming again while Daisy and Deacon tried to keep her moving around the room and breathing deep and measured. Hancock definitely gave the impression he was happy to slip away this time and could be heard shouting for Fahrenheit outside the door.

 -----------------------------

          It was hours later but to Lorelai it felt like years, all she could think about was the pain despite having more Med-x than she really should have. Dr Amari must have turned up at some point because she could distantly hear her giving orders to the other occupants of the room and occasionally she could hear Daisy talking. Every instinct was telling her to push so that was all she did, she knew she was screaming but the sound seemed to be coming from someone else, she was just there to push and remember to breathe.

  
          A big calloused hand took hers and though the fog of intense pain she saw Arthur’s face and thought she might be dreaming if it wasn’t for the intense pain and the worried look on the face of the vision before her. Maybe he really was here but that didn’t matter now, all that mattered was pushing and remembering to breathe. Push. Breathe. Push. Breathe. Don’t think about the massive pressure inside you just push and breathe. Push. Breathe. Push. Breathe. Push. Breathe.

  
          A high pitched wailing filled the room, she heard cheering and the pressure was gone, another calloused hand was placed on her forehead then pulled her into a hug and left her leaning on a strong shoulder. She felt ready to pass out from exhaustion until a tiny bundle was placed in her hands and she looked down at her baby’s face with tears in her eyes,  
          “Baby” she said dumbly, not aimed at anyone in particular, Daisy spoke anyway,  
          “It’s a boy… quite a screamer too” the old ghoul told her. It took Lorelai a while to realise it was Maxson that was holding her and gazing over her shoulder at his newborn son, when she did she smiled and let herself just enjoy this happy moment,  
          “Lorelai I… thank you” he said to her sincerely and when she looked towards him he had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face too “I’m glad you asked for me”  
          “My friends… will you… will they be safe?” her voice shook as she asked him,  
          “Of course, I know you think I’m a monster but… I’m not, just a man who’s scared to lose you… but we can talk later, about everything, right now you need to sleep” he was looking at her kindly and holding her close and to her surprise didn’t complain when Daisy came and took the baby from her, though he did flinch a little. He continued to hold her, kissing her hair and muttering kind words until she drifted off to sleep with a serene smile on her face.

 ---------------------------------

          The next few days were hard, Lorelai wasn’t well enough to be moved and Arthur refused to leave her side, she had to relearn a lot about caring for a newborn and gave him lessons along the way. Both of them adored the little bundle, who Lorelai had nicknamed pumpkin until a real name could be decided on (she’d had to explain to everyone what a pumpkin was though most agreed it was a perfect nickname). Arthur hadn’t brought up anything serious but they both knew it had to be done eventually. At one point she had heard him and Hancock arguing over it and had been surprised that Maxson hadn’t been harsher, nor had he mentioned anything about “ghoul” or “abomination” and she dared let herself dream, for a moment, that things might be getting better. She had to bring up the elephant in the room though,  
          “Arthur?” she said dubiously as he held his son, cooing at him,  
          “Yes my love?”  
          “Is everything ok… between us I mean?”  
          “Ahh… I suppose we can’t avoid it forever. As far as I am concerned you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, well you and pumpkin here”  
          “But I left, aren’t you angry?”  
          “I was, at first but I had a lot of time to think about things… I haven’t always been fair or kind and I know you deserve that and so much more. I said some things I was not proud of when you defended Danse and I hope you will forgive me”  
          “If I want to leave will you really take my baby away?”  
          “No, I should never have even thought about that, this little thing here” he lifted the baby a little “he is a Maxson yes but first and foremost he is our son and I want him to be happy, I don’t want him to have to grow up without a mother”  
          “You really mean that?”  
          “Yes, if you feel like you can’t possibly live your life by my side you are free to go and you are free to take pumpkin with you but… honestly Lorelai I will do anything I can to make you love me again, anything at all”  
          “Oh Arthur, I never stopped loving you but… there are things that… beliefs you hold that… my friends…” she trailed off and sat silent for a while before thinking of a way to frame the idea in her mind “Arthur, do you know about my parents?”  
          “No, you’ve never mentioned them and I always wondered why”  
          “Well they didn’t die in the bombs but they did die because of the war… you know history so you probably know that the big one, the war that turned the world into this, it was between the China and America. My father was American, my mother Japanese, they loved each other very very much and were such good people, they were both over the moon when I met Nate and the same when I had Shaun but… not long after he was born they… passed away”  
          “How did it happen?”  
          “That’s the main point of this, my Mother was Japanese but at the time a lot of people were hard up, living tough lives and they blamed the Chinese and not a lot of them knew how to tell someone Chinese and someone Japanese apart… or didn’t care. One day my parents were out together and one man started shouting at my mother, blaming her for the war, for all the shortages, for everything really. It wasn’t long before more people got involved and something was thrown, no one ever knew who did that but it was what started it” she was crying now, she’d never told this story before, it had always been far too painful to talk about “my Dad tried to defend her, stood in front of her as the mob attacked, they killed him first with fists and feet and stones, anything that came to hand then they did the same to my Mother… no one was ever put to justice for it, no one would tell the police what really happened”  
          “Oh Lorelai I’m so sorry” he looked pained on her behalf and she knew her eyes were streaming now but she didn’t sob or sniffle, just let the tears fall,  
          “I’m telling you about this for a reason Arthur, my Mother and my Father, they were great people but they were killed simply because of what she was, they had done nothing wrong but because she was from a certain place and looked a certain way… “ her voice broke and finally the sobbing came, washing over her and leaving her as quickly. She pulled herself together as her lover watched, tears visible in his own eyes “Don’t you see Arthur, that’s what you’re doing, these people… my friends… they helped me when I had nothing and they didn’t have to do that. They’re good people but some of them are ghouls and because of that you hate them… and Danse, he did so much for you, he was always so loyal but you still wanted him dead simply because of what he is”  
          “I didn’t want him dead” Maxson said quietly, like he didn’t want to admit it to himself let alone anyone else,  
          “What?”  
          “I never really wanted that but I didn’t know what to do… you’re right, he has done so much, been so loyal and he didn’t even know what he was but… he represents everything I’ve hated for so long and I didn’t know what to do”  
          “You knew? You knew what the right thing to do was but you… didn’t do it?”  
          “It was just such a shock, I’m glad you persuaded me against it, gave me a reason not to kill him, a way out that didn’t mean losing the trust of the Brotherhood. It just meant I lost you and I think maybe that was worse, a lot worse. Lorelai I don’t want to have to choose between you and the Brotherhood”  
          “What would you choose if you had to?”  
          “I honestly don’t know” she smiled at him, a big happy grin that made him just look confused “why are you smiling?”  
          “The fact that it would be a hard choice means the world to me… that you would even consider giving up your life’s work for me tells me a lot. I want to be with you Arthur, I want us to be a family but some things have to change, you know that right?”  
          “I do but you might have to point me in the right direction”  
          “For starters we have to talk more, talk like this I mean, honest and frank communication not just arguing and… fucking” she whispered the last word, worried about the baby hearing which made them both laugh,  
          “I can do that”  
          “And the institute… I agree they have to be stopped and no one is going to argue about that one, Father is not my son, he is a cold, conniving monster but the synths… they’re victims too, they don’t deserve to be killed for their creators sins” he sighed and looked deep in thought for a moment before seeming to come to some sort of decision,  
          “Alright, I will concede that point but… it will be hard to convince the rest of the troops”  
          “You know most of them will do anything you say with pleasure”  
          “It’s the rest I worry about though”  
          “We can deal with that together, come up with some sort of plan when we aren’t sleep deprived new parents”  
          “Yes that may be for the best… anything else?”  
          “This whole hoarding and destroying technology… why?”  
          “If it falls into the wrong hands it could be disastrous”  
          “Ok some of it probably would be but what about the rest? I’m not saying give every wastelander a plasma rifle but the things that could improve farming and building could make everyone’s lives so much better”  
          “I couldn’t possibly give away our technology for free”  
          “I understand but you could deal… help farms to improve their yield and in return they give you some of the food”  
          “That does make sense, it would be a better than just taking what we need but would be more acceptable than-” he was interrupted by a small squealing and wriggle from the child in his arms, who up until that point had been asleep “feeding time?”  
          “Yes… Arthur?” she took the baby, now screaming at the top of his lungs, from her fiance and started to feed him from her own breast, a sight that she had noticed her lover enjoying in a far from innocent way,  
          “Yes my love?”  
          “Please thank Hancock, he’s done so much for me”  
          “I already have love… we had a long talk about a lot of things, he thinks very highly of you” she smiled, it was clear to her then that, no matter how long it took, Arthur was determined to be a kinder man for her and their child, although maybe he had been one all along just well hidden under all the doctrine and confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please bear in mind I have no kids and have never given birth (neither do I intend to) so I'm writing this one blind.... I have however had kidney stones (a lot of them) and I've been told it feels similar to giving birth so I kinda used that memory for this. Readers with kids, please tell me if I did well here.
> 
> Thank you everyone for the lovely comments and kudos. 
> 
> From here on out Arthur is going to be making some changes. I was kinda hoping that it would make sense that Lorelai leaving and Pumpkin being born would act as a wake-up call and set all of his slow progress into overdrive. I really want this to seem realistic in their whole interactions with each other and the rest of the world so let me know if anything sticks in your craw a bit.


	20. Planning and Persuasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The happy(ish) couple think baby names and destroying the institute... all in a days work right?

          “What about Charles?” she asked her lover. She had insisted on dragging him to Sanctuary for at least a few days, which turned into a few weeks and by now the place had become a relative vertibird port and half the time Arthur was on the radio to someone or other. At least here though they could grab a few moments of peace with their new son and it was in one of these that they were discussing baby names,  
          “Charles?” he didn’t look convinced and leaned over to look closer at the baby in her arms “he doesn’t look so much like a Charles”  
          “He does look like a Charlie though” she took the close proximity as an opportunity to kiss him on the cheek and his pale blue eyes lifted to her,  
          “He does but I think personally it should be something grander, more regal” he shifted on the grass underneath him, they were sat under the shade of a leafless tree and Lorelai got the impression he wasn’t exactly used to such informal seating arrangements,  
          “Charles is regal, it was the name of royalty in England… lots of King Charles and Prince Charles’s over there. I wonder what England is like now”  
          “How about Maxwell?”  
          “Maxwell Maxson” she laughed and it was warm and clear, free of all the stresses endured recently “no… definitely not Maxwell Maxson”  
          “I can concede your point there”  
          “What about Jhonas of Jonathan… Jonathan Maxson… I like it"  
          “It was my father's name" she looked up at him and smiled, thinking it would be perfect but his expression soured "though now I tend to think of someone else and I would rather not name our son after the chem addled, playboy Mayor of Goodneighbour” he said with a generous measure of sarcasm,  
          “Oh yes… I didn’t think of that… how about Edward?”  
          “Edward Maxson… hummm… yes I like that”  
          “Edward is grand and regal, I think maybe he looks a bit like an Edward too” she smiled at the little thing in her arms who was burbling and making soft noises to himself. Deacon appeared around the side of a house and walked towards them, since the birth Maxson had begrudgingly accepted Deacons presence,  
          “Hey Deeks, what do you think about Edward”  
          “For the pumpkin? Looks more like a Beelzebub but I like Edward too”  
          “You’re comparing my baby son to the devil?”  
          “Of course you knew what I was talking about Rory” she smiled at Deacon and looked over at Arthur who was looking less than happy, she put her free hand to his cheek in an attempt to chase away whatever demons were in there,  
          “I’m ready Arthur”  
          “For what my love?”  
          “To take on the Institute, I wanted him to have a name first in case...”

\-----------------------------------

          Arthur paced in his quarters while Edward slept in his crib and Lorelai watched him, mutfruit in hand and a sarcastic look on her face. It had been a month since they’d returned and the baby was growing up fast, by this point he seemed to recognise the both of them and would smile at their presence and coo. The ship itself was alive at the idea of having a two month old baby Maxson aboard but Lorelai had refused to put her son on display to everyone and they were mostly left the their privacy with Codsworth. The small quarters were a little cramped with four in place of the one Arthur had built it for, especially since the robot buzzed about and often cleared away things Maxson was still working on,  
          “I think maybe we should get somewhere bigger” she said to him with a smile when she saw him grumbling and looking for papers that the Mr Handy had put back in a folder in his desk, she walked over and pulled them out, passing them to him,  
          “I don’t know how you expect that to happen on a ship” he grumbled, taking the offending papers with a glance over his shoulder at the robot who was now on standby in the corner,  
          “I don’t know, there is a free room next door since you haven’t replaced Danse yet… unless you plan on bringing him back?”  
          “You know I can’t do that” he sighed, looking up at her and softening his expression “the crew think he is dead and it would undermine my position for them to know I let him live, wanted him to live but I can’t have that”  
          “I know… speaking of which I should tell you my plan with the Railroad” he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly “ok it was before I knew about Edward at all and I didn’t entirely know where you would stand on… rescuing synths”  
          “My stance in public is that they must be destroyed, but I don’t know anymore, you my love have opened my eyes to so much” he was gazing down at her with love and it made her sigh and smile, contented,  
          “The plan was to use the Brotherhood attacking the Institute as a distraction and attempt to save as many synths as possible before you destroyed the place, I would have opened up the relay to bring in the Railroad and then been at your side when we attacked… you and the rest of the world would be none the wiser of the escaped synths and as far as everyone knew the Brotherhood would be responsible for ending the Institute” she tried to look apologetic as Arthur stroked his beard, deep in thought,  
          “It was a good plan but… too many things could go wrong and I don’t exactly approve of my future wife being a double agent”  
          “I just wanted everyone to win” she said quietly, bowing her head,  
          “And if it had worked then they would have… I will allow the Railroad to move the synths as we attack, you will stay here”  
          “Will I hell stay here” she was suddenly angry at the idea of being left behind, after all it would be her last chance to see Shaun and maybe persuade him to do the right thing and let people escape,  
          “You are the mother of my child, I will not risk losing you”  
          “If this is about emotions you know better than that Arthur, I am the only one who can get to the mass relay inside the Institute so that the Railroad can get in… I had also hoped I could persuade Sh-Father to help somehow”  
          “Then I will stay at your side” his face was set with determination, his arms folded across his strong chest as he stood over her, he should know by now that he never intimidated her, he didn’t when they first met so he definitely wouldn’t now,  
          “I have to do this alone… how about a compromise, I will help the Railroad to rescue the synths, persuade my once son to do the first good thing he’s done in his whole damn life and return here before the fighting starts in earnest”  
          “People will notice you have gone”  
          “Not necessarily, I can teleport to and from anywhere so I could do it from this room and then back here, no one would know I had left this room at all and then I could be back to see you leave from the safety of the Prydwen… there is one other thing though”  
          “And that is?” he looked dubious but Lorelai knew she had won, that he could have no more objections than just stubbornness,  
          “After” she looked away from him and pulled in a deep breath to steel herself “once the synths are free I want… no, I need you to make a declaration that any already free synths will be free to live their lives, I understand your need to save face and to not appear… weak… but Arthur, if you have your men hunt down and kill the synths we rescue then what is all this for in the first place?”  
          “I understand, I suppose it isn’t too much to ask and I wouldn’t appear too… lenient if I were to let them live” he didn’t look entirely convinced by this though so she may have to add a few little persuasive touches,  
          “Thank you Arthur”

\-------------------------------

           The catacombs smelled like they always had, of dust and mold and the earth, the way a tomb should smell. She returned to tell Desdemona the news that the plan was to go ahead with Maxson’s unofficial backing and that, with some extra persuasion he had already made the declaration that there would be no hunt for any escaped synths. Lorelai jumped though as she was met with raised guns and angry faces,  
          “What’s going on?” she asked a furious Desdemona who held a railway rifle in her hands,  
          “I suppose I should have seen it coming, you being turned by the other side… we heard about your ‘engagement’ Fixer” Lorelai’s jaw dropped and her face became panicked as she looked around the room at the people she trusted holding weapons trained on her,  
          “It’s not like that Des… yes I intend to marry Arthur but I never wanted to drop your cause”  
          “I don’t believe you and I don’t see any way you could convince me… how could you Fixer, after everything, Deacon must be heartbroken, he’s gone missing”  
          “You mean he isn’t back?” she felt a lump grow in her stomach, maybe Deacon did feel abandoned and she had made him run off,  
          “Back from where… what are you talking about?”  
          “He came to sanctuary with us after… after I left he said he would be coming here to explain everything but that was almost two months ago”  
          “No one has seen him… for months” Desdemona’s strong determination was wilting a little at Lorelai’s expression of shock and concern,  
          “I have to find him” she made to walk towards the exit but a warning shot fired, barely missing her head and she looked at the heavy nail driven deep into the wall by Desdemona’s railway rifle,  
          “You will not be allowed to leave this place traitor” Lorelai turned around slowly, her hands raised to face the woman whose face was set once again in anger,  
          “But I have to find Deacon” Lorelai pleaded,  
          “Whooo whooo what the hell’s going on” Deacon, like a bad penny that always came back, was walking nonchalantly down the stairs,  
          “DEACON” both Lorelai and Des shouted together,  
          “Where have you been?” Desdemona asked him when he finally reached the floor and stood at Lorelai’s side,  
          “I didn’t exactly expect all of this to go down so soon… Fixer you’re supposed to be on the Prydwen taking care of a certain pumpkin” she flashed him a look that clearly meant ‘shut up’ while Des looked like she had had enough of the confusing situation,  
          “Will you two explain yourselves?” the older woman said, lowering her weapon, the rest of the team took her cue and lowered their own,  
          “Ok, ok… Fixer I’m sorry I meant to come and tell Des everything but I’ve been… keeping an eye on you and… other people around you” he said pointedly, “When I realised you were coming here I followed as quick as I could, really hard to get down from a tree that high though”  
          “So you’ve been watching me all along?”  
          “Babe, it’s what I do and I’ve grown protective”  
          “Of who exactly” she asked, though she knew full well the spy adored her baby son and it was most likely him he was watching over,  
          “Both of you” he said looking at her kindly “look Des, a lot has been going on but she’s telling the truth and believe it or not she’s even got Maxson thinking a little clearer”  
          “How is that possible?” Des asked incredulously,  
          “He’s mellowed out a lot since… certain things happened” Lorelai said, she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell the Railroad about Edward, not yet at least and it seemed Deacon got the idea and kept his mouth shut,  
          “I know there’s something you two aren’t telling me” Des sighed and put her rifle down on a table by her side “but Deacon has never steered me wrong so I find myself trusting you despite my better judgment… let’s just say my gut tells me you’re reliable”

  
          Over the next few hours all was explained (well with the exception of the baby), how Lorelai had been a good influence over Arthur and how she had convinced him to allow them to rescue the synths as well as let them be once they were out. It helped that he had already given the order to ignore previously escaped synths because that could be simply checked since, unbeknownst to Lorelai, Tinker Tom had hacked the Brotherhood communications. It acted as proof enough of all they had been saying and, however reluctantly Desdemona agreed to go ahead with the plan. Now that it was all set in motion Lorelai couldn’t help the nervousness from building up at the thought of everything she would have to do over the next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no IDEA how hard it was to come up with a name for Lorelai and Arthur's little boy!
> 
> It takes a small amount of suspension of disbelief to think the Railroad would know about the engagement but not the baby but bear with me.... I figure since the two of them are being quite private about it then the Brotherhood communications (being all formal and stuff) might not say it out right. On top of which Deacon is the information gatherer and he's in on the secret so... you know... it's sorta possible... sorta.


	21. A Death After a Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big plan is put into action and there's no going back now

          Lorelai stared at her son, laid in his deathbed before her, the Railroad agents were waiting to be teleported in as soon as the Brotherhood attacked but Deacon had already made his way in and stood at her side. The old man just looked up at her and told her he was dieing and that he had intended to make her the director in his place. She felt sick thinking of the good she could have done as the director, starting with sharing much of the technology with the outside world and freeing all the synths that wanted to leave. But she had gone too far for that, it couldn’t be called off now and the Institute would be destroyed no matter what she felt. Hopefully her dying son would listen to reason,  
          “I don’t think that’s a possibility, you see there are two armies ready and waiting for my signal to bring this whole thing crashing down and I couldn’t stop them now if I wanted to… Father… Shaun, please do the right thing and save some bloodshed, let me get as many people out as I can”  
          “You betrayed me mother and I will not help you” he coughed out, she tried not to let anger take the place of sadness that threatened to overwhelm her,  
          “Please Shaun, if you let me I’ll save your people along with the synths, we can do what we can for them up on the surface but there will be no future for this place… please, help” the old man looked annoyed but, with a deep sigh he acquiesced and gave them the password for his personal computer along with a code to shut down the gen 1 synths and start an evacuation alarm. She was about to turn to Deacon when he muttered out another code with no explanation for what it did,  
“what is that code for?” she asked him,  
          “A second chance” was all he said before falling into a coughing fit. Lorelai sighed and looked down at him, he had done the right thing in the end and she knew that would double her guilt at killing him but… for a second she could see her goodness and Nate’s calm patience in him and found herself crying for the missed life he could have lead,  
          “Goodbye son” she whispered to him, kissing him on the head and walking towards Deacon at the computer on a desk in the corner,  
          “You know what to do right Deeks?” the spy nodded at her with a grin “and wait until just the right moment ok, it all needs to be timed perfectly”  
          “Got it boss” she lifted her pipboy ready to return to the Prydwen but Deacon stopped her with a soft touch of the arm, “um, boss… what about all that stuff about second chances, you want me to do that too?”  
          “I don’t know… yes, for the sake of curiousity do it” and then, in a flash of bright light she was gone.

          The room swam in front of her, teleportation always made her nauseous but she was just happy she had ended up in the right room and that Edward was still sleeping in his crib. Arthur would be ready to leave by now so she took the three month old in her arms, gentle not to wake him just yet, and headed towards the command deck.

  
          The ship was buzzing with noise as everyone prepared for battle and she could hear the distant sound of vertibirds departing for the airport below, no doubt delivering the ground troops to assemble at the feet of liberty prime. Arthur was stood ready by the windows in the same stance he had been when she had met him many moons ago, the baby had been woken by the noise around him and made a sharp noise to alert his mother of this but calmed as soon as she paid him attention. Maxson must have heard the noise because he turned to greet his family with a smile,  
          “My love” he said, walking over and taking her hand as she repositioned Edward into one arm “Is everything well?”  
          “Yes… everything is ready” she told him as the baby cooed in her arm and looked up at his father whose eyes took him in as though he may never see him again. Since he was now almost three months old Edward had grown a little shock of dark black hair above his ruddy cherub cheeks but the child’s eyes were all Maxson, almond shaped and light blue,  
          “So this is it” he said when he had clearly memorised the face of his child,  
          “This is it” she said, squeezing his hand and offering him a weak smile. He lead her over to the windows and, letting go of her hand, took her by the shoulders and turned her so that she was looking down at Cambridge,  
          “That is where I’ll be… watch from here and know that when that point is a crater I will have won… we will have won”  
          “I just want you to come home Arthur” she told him solemnly “I love you”  
          “I love you too… goodbye for now my love” he wrapped himself around her and touched one finger to Edward’s face, kissing her on the cheek as he did so then, with a deep sigh, he left. She watched him board a vertibird and followed it as it detached from the ship and made towards the ground then, without a second's hesitation she set off running through the ship, ignoring wild shouts from those left behind. With only the skeleton crew required to keep it running the Prydwen was eerily quiet but Lorelai didn’t care about that or the weight of the baby in her arms as she flew through corridors and up stairs. Coming to the well known door she flung it open and stepped out onto the forecastle, walking right to the tip and standing there to watch, a muttered prayed under her breath, it didn’t matter that she was never religious she would happily offer fealty to any God that may have not abandoned the wastes. Before long she realised, as she watched Liberty Prime make it’s way towards CIT that she was no longer praying and instead humming her favourite tune, Clair De Lune as tears ran softly down her face.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

          It was coming up to two hours of standing out there in the cold, glad she had wrapped the baby well and worn a warm jacket herself, before the bright blue flash reached her, the sound of a boom following not long after as the blue fire spread in a circle that made her think of water on a pond disturbed by a single drop. The shockwave barely reached her, just a warm gust of wind by the time it got to them and she stood for some time just watching the dust cloud settle into the crater,  
          “Your daddy did that” she said, rocking the sleeping baby in her arms “he’s a great man, hopefully with our help he can be a good man too”  
When she saw the vertibird flying from a nearby rooftop she made her way into the ship and down to the deck where she was stood on the small platform in front of the door when Arthur jumped off the craft and ran up the stairs. Lorelai yelped as he grabbed her and Edward and lifted them in his arms with ease in order to spin them around and kiss her, a cheer rang from the soldiers who had come back on that first vertibird with him. He placed her feet back down on the ground and coughed with embarrassment,  
          “Em… sorry about that Lorelai” he cleared his throat and avoided her gaze as he returned to his usual tight lipped, tense self but she just smiled at him,  
          “I liked it” she whispered, leaning into him a little more than was perhaps seemly before straightening her back and speaking up “Are you hurt?”  
          “Nothing more than scrapes and bruises, I have some things to organise including the medical care of the injured but I will meet you in our quarters as soon as I can” with that he pushed his way through the door leaving Lorelai feeling a little deflated and realising that he would never drop his Elder persona in front of the troops like that again. Still he was home and he was safe and she would have asked for no more.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

          “The Railroad must have done quite well” he told her as he sat down at the table in front of her that evening. Unsurprisingly “Some things to organise” took him the rest of the day and he didn’t come back until late and wasted no time in flopping himself down in a chair and relaxing as much as he could, she helped him remove his heavy coat and leaned a chin on his shoulder from behind. He kissed her cheek, the rough beard brushing her chin sent a warmness through her that was something akin to arousal but also contentment, she pulled away smiling to herself and sat down opposite him,  
          “Tell me everything” he looked at her and his eyes became sad, she studied his face for any hint at why but found nothing there “what’s wrong?”  
          “Your… son, I’m sorry Lorelai”  
          “Oh... yes, I said goodbye and at the last moment he did something good… other than that he wasn’t my son, just half my genes… now tell me all about it” and he did with the sort of animation she would have never imagined from him back when he was just Elder Maxson and she just Knight Thompson. She laughed as he mimed using his gatling laser “Final Judgement”, explaining how he and the other troops had destroyed the robots attacking them and smiled at him when he stood straight backed and serious telling her how he spoke to the remaining scientists who refused to surrender and opened fire. His hands flew as he described the explosion as he had witnessed it from a rooftop after they had overloaded the reactor. Then finally he took her hands and brought her through out of their quarters, laughing at her confused expression,  
          “I happen to have a surprise for you” he told her, suddenly much less animated since they were no longer alone, Lorelai couldn’t help but be shocked by how quickly he changed from the relaxed and happy young man to the Elder. He reached for the door next to their room, where Danse had once lived before being banished, a room that she hadn’t dared go in until now for fear it would bring back too many hard memories. It was utterly changed though and she gasped at it, the walls were hung with flags and posters that managed to hide most of the cold metal walls and along with a big rug on the floor the small room was cozy. A blue crib was sat against the far wall, a dresser made up for lack of changing table and a rocking chair sat by the door, something she hadn’t seen in the Commonwealth and had no idea where he could have found it,  
          “Arthur… how?” at a loss for words she just opened and closed her mouth like a fish feeling very undignified but her great man just smiled down at her,  
          “I don’t plan on having a day go by without you and our children at my side, this way you will be able to come with me on the Prydwen wherever I need to travel… of course I hope we can have a home here in the Commonwealth and perhaps one in the Capitol but I would like to be comfortable aboard the ship too”  
          “It’s perfect, although it does depend on how many children you are planning on”  
          “Hahahahaha many my love, as many as we can” she raised her eyebrow at him, that would definitely be a long discussion for another time. Until then though it would be nice to have their own space but still have Edward close and safe with Codsworth while they got the chance to try and make a few more little Maxson’s without the robot hovering in the corner.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

          Finally able to spend some time alone, their tiny baby safely asleep in the next room, Lorelai laid on the bed wrapped in Arthur’s arms as he kissed along her spine, each soft touch of his lips leaving a warmth in their wake. She moaned softly as he worked down to the small of her back and ran a hand along her body, from her ribs, across her waist and resting on one hip before digging his fingers into her soft flesh and forcing her to turn around and face him. He looked down at her with lust darkened eyes and licked his lips, tweaking one nipple between finger and thumb and drawing out a cry when she realised just how sensitive she was there, something Arthur seemed very fond of. Head bent and hands running over her body he brought his lips to one of her swollen breasts and kissed in a circle around her areola. She could feel pressure building and tried to hide her face as he finally wrapped his mouth around her nipple, sucking hard and she felt release, filling his mouth with her milk,  
          “You have no idea what that does to me Lorelai” he almost purred at her before giving the other breast the same treatment, though she thought she had a good idea as she felt him throb against her thigh. Tongue swirling around her overstimulated nipples he snaked one hand between them, down her stomach and between her legs, humming approval at how wet she was. It came as a surprise to both when Lorelai cried out and came hard the second he touched her yearning clit, leaving her with shaking limbs and shuddering breaths, Maxson stared down at her as she twitched in waves of pleasure and the lust in his eyes alone was enough to draw out her orgasm and leave her a puddle beneath him,  
          “Wow” she said, barely managing to form her thoughts into the one simple syllable her head was awash with so much exhausting satisfaction. Of course her lover wasn’t done yet and struggled to keep his hands off her as she came down from her high, as soon as she felt capable again she reached for his cock, unsurprised to find him hard as steel when she ran her hand up and down. He took this as all the encouragement he needed to part her thighs and ease into her making her gasp to feel that familiar fullness after so long. Maxson slowly began to move his hips, moving at a pace that was at the same time tender and sweet but also frustrating and Lorelai rocked her hips desperate for friction and the feel of him taking her with passion.  
          “Arthur” she mewled into his ear where his head lay on her shoulder, kissing her neck and driving her wild, each touch of his lips sparking her nerves, “Arthur please”  
          “Please what?” she couldn’t tell now if he was teasing her or actually confused, the way he spoke was filled with as much love as each of his movements,  
          “Harder… fuck me harder” he grunted at her breathy pleading and pulled back to look into her eyes, in a single moment his face contorted from pure love to a devious smirk and she felt him straighten his back and grab her calves and bring them together against his chest, holding her up in a way that he hit sweet spots she had almost forgotten with each thrust. Ripples of pure pleasure washed over her and she soon drowned in it, lost to the world outside of this, them, their bodies moving together and the tension building in her. Her orgasm hit, wiping out everything, enveloping her in a cloak of nothingness as her body shuddered and her mind went blank. She wasn’t sure if she passed out, or if she was simply lost in a sea of endorphins like little explosions that took away every else but once she was finally aware of her surroundings again she was wrapped in a blanket, Arthur gazing down at her,  
          “I have to say that stroked my ego a little” he told her a proud grin on his usually stern face as she blinked up at him,  
          “Wha?”  
          “Well… I think I may have actually just fucked you unconscious”  
          “Hummm… maybe… that’s… that’s never… I… wow” he laughed and laid down beside her, running his fingers through her hair until she felt sleep dragging her back into nothingness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea ok so maybe I took the 'Maxson is a sex god' thing a bit too far but... well if you can't go as far as being fucked unconscious in fan fiction then where can you?


	22. When Shaun Met Lorelai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lorelai visits the Railroad to see how they are managing after the Institutes demise but is faced with something she couldn't have imagined.

          The Railroad was in total disarray when Lorelai walked into the Catacombs of the Old North Church and it didn’t take too much effort to guess that at least half the agents were hungover, the groans and empty bottles of purified water everywhere gave them away. Des was busy shouting directions to everyone, mostly about finding space for the hundreds of newly rescued synths and trying to find means to move them all. Lorelai decided she probably wasn’t the best person to talk to right now and made up her mind to look for Deacon,  
          “He’s in the back” she was told by a gruff and rushing Drummer Boy when she asked, the dark circles and the wincing every time Des raised her voice let her know he was one of those celebrating. When she did eventually find her friend he was in the shooting range, a messy old nook in the back of HQ that was graced with half destroyed old wooden cutouts, painted to look like gangsters. It was set up to practice shooting but somehow never really got used for that, only now Deacon was stood by what looked like a young boy who he was teaching to shoot with a BB gun. The child had dark hair, almost black and had his back to her as she walked up watching the pair in confusion, who the hell was this kid?  
          Deacon looked up in surprise, apparently the well trained spy hadn’t noticed her walking towards them when he was so engrossed in explaining to the child how to aim. He looked guilty even with his sunglasses in place, the corners of his mouth turned down as he looked at her silently,  
          “Are you going to introduce me Deeks?” she said in a light tone that she hoped wouldn’t betray just how confused she was, the boy turned and Lorelai immediately recognised him, her eyes growing wide in shock at seeing her son stood before her,  
          “Em… well… Rory… let’s go outside and… talk” he charged forward and grabbed her elbow, pulling her out through the escape tunnel and into the cold air of the dusk outside and refusing to talk until they were a good way from the Church,  
          “Deeks, what the hell? Why is a kid that looks like my son here?” Lorelai tried to sound casual, partly hoping that this was all some elaborate joke but she couldn’t help her tone turning angry and Deacon seemed so tense and nervous he did nothing to help her concerns,  
          “Yea… well… Rory… you know that code, all that stuff about second chances… well I put it in like you said and…” he gestured in the direction of HQ, all the while nervously rubbing the back of his neck, when she just shook her head he continued “the kid, he’s… the second chance… he’s the synth Shaun”  
          “WHAT?” her eyes widened and panic filled her for a second even managing to stall her usually mile a minute brain,  
          “The code you told me to put in for curiosities sake… it sent the kid to us, he was crying about his mom, he just wanted his mom… I didn’t know what to do so I brought him to HQ and… well I’ve looked after him for the past few days”  
          “He’s a synth version of my son?”  
          “Yup… don’t really know what else to add”  
          “He’s… Shaun… but not Shaun… like a pretend Shaun?”  
          “That’s about the gist of it”  
          “I… what do I do?”  
          “Rory that one’s up to you”  
          “But, Arthur… oh god Arthur’s going to lose his shit” she was starting to panic,  
          “Yep”  
          “You aren’t exactly being helpful you know”  
          “Yep”  
          “DEACON… I don’t know what to do”  
          “Well you either keep him and, raise him or something or we find somewhere for him, a new family and a new home”  
          “I can’t raise him… wait, will he grow up? Will he be just like a normal kid?”  
          “Oh god I hope so”  
          “Maybe I don’t have to tell Maxson… maybe I… no I can’t lie to him, not when things are really getting better… I said goodbye to my son Deeks” she could feel tears welling up, tears of frustration at Father’s last attempt to really mess up her life, “I can’t do this right now”  
          “Don’t you want to meet him?”  
          “No… if I talk to him I’ll… I’ll either be sick or I’ll be so in love I won’t be able to say no… I thought all the hard decisions were over and done with… I thought I could just get on with my life now” she rubbed her hands over her face and groaned,  
          “I don’t think the hard decisions are ever over Rory”  
          “It would’ve been better if I never knew… couldn’t you have just made him go away and not told me Deeks?”  
          “That wasn’t my call to make… are you really that bothered that he’s a synth?”  
          “You know that’s not what this is about, if it were just a case of looking after a synth kid you know I would but it’s so much more complicated than that… don’t hate me Deacon”  
          “I don’t think I could and I tried a few times”  
          “Arthur has changed so much, he’s so much more understanding now but I don’t think I can ask him to raise a synth and then there’s the fact that the kid isn’t really my son, I said goodbye to my son and… killed him” she sighed, deep and long, almost an attempt to push the problem away “can we just walk for a bit, I need to think but I really don’t want to be alone right now” Deacon nodded and for a long while they just walked along the riverbank in companionable silence, both deep in thought as the dilapidated buildings passed them by.

\--------------------------------------------

  
          It was with a deep sigh that she finally took hold of his arm in the remnants of what was once a lovely little park with the iron arches grown over with roses to make a tunnel that had filled with delicious scents. Now they were overgrown with ragged old weeds that had died and gone brown in the sun but somehow no less beautiful, like a symbol of the desolation but also the beauty in the end of the world. She looked at her best friend, a hand held in the crook of his elbow and her eyes trying to convey all the sadness and indecision she felt, for once he removed his glasses and looked back, a soft, sad smile playing across his lips,  
          “You wanted to be a father right?” She asked him and for a second he looked like he had been stabbed in the gut,  
          “Where is this going Lorelai?”  
          “You seem to like him… and you wouldn’t care that he’s a synth, you could love him”  
          “I can’t do that” the look of pain was now pretty much permanent and she could feel tears welling up herself,  
          “Why not Deacon… he needs love”  
          “Because you won’t be with me and… and Barbara won’t… I don’t think I’ve got any love left to give anymore”  
          “Oh Deeks… I’m so sorry” she lifted her other hand to his face and he nuzzled into it for a second before pulling away completely and putting his shades back on, a real and a metaphorical barrier against the world,  
          “I’ll find him someone who will love him if you can’t”  
          “I… I… I think I could love him but… I don’t want to put the poor kid through it while I try to figure that out” he was gone again, distant and pulling further away and Lorelai would have given almost anything to help this poor broken man who just happened to be her best friend… almost anything, just not the one thing he needed her to,  
          “I understand, I’ll get it done” and he charged off towards HQ leaving Lorelai to call for a vertibird (Arthur had insisted she do so for every little trip out recently), she sat silent on the way back, thinking about what she had done. She had woken in the post apocalyptic Commonwealth ready to give up or do anything to find her son but since then so much had changed, she had changed and most importantly what it meant to be a mother had changed for her. She never once thought that she would end up the mother of a man over thirty years her senior or that she would be able to see him as the enemy. Now she just wanted to draw a line under that life with all of it's mess and complications and have something real and tangible with Arthur... did that make her so bad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the penultimate chapter, meaning there's only one more which will be followed by an Epilogue so brace yourselves for ending times!
> 
> I tried to figure out a way to get her to be with synth Shaun without having to leave Arthur but I just couldn't do it. She would have to either lie to him constantly, lie to everyone or she would have to leave Maxson to be with a son she wasn't sure she could love.


	23. Two Weddings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinda does what it says on the tin. The big day has arrived and Lorelai isn't surprised when it's full of speeches and tedium but Arthur has a surprise for her.
> 
> This is the last chapter but it will be followed by an Epilogue so we can all see what the gang have done since.

          Lorelai knew her wedding wasn’t going to be about her, she’d had nothing to do with the planning and from what little she had seen it was going to be a grand affair full of speeches and all about the brotherhood. She didn’t mind though, she knew that this was what she was getting into and wouldn’t change a thing and Arthur seemed just as annoyed at all the pomp as she did, especially since it had brought other dignitaries from other branches of the Brotherhood to the Commonwealth. They all arrived by vertibird a few days before the wedding and Lorelai thanked god that she had met Arthur and not the bunch of sour old men with bent backs and hard faces, her life would have taken a very different turn if this was who had come to rescue the Commonwealth.

  
          Arthur had barely had any time to himself since the other Elders had arrived and, since they all seemed to be avoiding her, Lorelai had barely seen him. A cot had been set up in the baby's room for her and she wasn’t sure if it was so that she would be closer to her child or to keep up appearances or even to get her out of the way but she didn’t like it. Edward was gurgling in her arms and trying to smile up at her as she gently moved the rocking chair after a feed when she heard voices in the next room, they were clearly raised but still a little muffled by the wall. Putting the happy little baby in his cot she moved back over to place an ear against the wall, eavesdropping wasn’t really something she liked to do but she was sure this conversation was likely about her,  
          “... for the good of the Brotherhood” she caught the end of a sentence spoken loudly in a voice dusted by age,  
          “You have a soul forged in eternal steel, you have to think of these things” another elderly voice raised almost to shouting but not quite there,  
          “I am aware of who I am and my responsibilities” Arthur sounded calm, he had always had a voice commanding enough to not need raising and in the small room she knew it would be echoing and strong,  
          “What if the child isn’t yours? I am lead to believe she has friends in the Commonwealth and regularly takes leave to spend her time out there… how do you know she isn’t manipulating the best prospect” a flash of anger accompanied those words, how dare they insinuate… that?  
          “My son is called Edward” she smiled against the cold metal, at least Arthur trusted her, he just needed to convince these two pompous fools,  
          “I would advise against trusting a woman who found her way into your bed and fell pregnant by accident, you know full well Arthur that many women would do anything necessary to catch a Maxson, as it were”  
          “We know very little about her after all” now the two old men were agreeing with each other and rounding on him,  
          “I know all that I need to know”  
          “You know what she’s like between the sheets, how many other people do I wonder?” That was it, she wasn’t going to sit there a moment longer and listen to them insulting her without first giving her an opportunity to do more than shake their hands. If she needed their approval, which she assumed she probably would at some point in the future (hopefully very very distant) then she would have to have the chance to convince them otherwise. She marched out of the room and pulled open the unlocked door to her and Arthur’s quarters and faced down the two men,  
          “HOW DARE YOU?” She yelled into the room, Arthur spun around where he was standing with his back to the door and both men jumped up from their seats looking offended, mouths opening and closing like fish. They were both wearing old fashioned and unwieldy looking robes, she knew one as Elder Hardin who was almost entirely bald and had small eyes that made her think of a pig, full of pride and spite. The other she didn’t know, perhaps he had only just flown in so she hadn’t been introduced yet, he was old enough to be frail and she was honestly surprised he had managed to jump up with such speed,  
          “Paladin, I do not think this is appropriate” the one she didn’t know said, not unkindly but with an unmistakable air of pity that just made Lorelai angrier,  
          “I hardly think it’s appropriate to talk about me in such a way when I am next door feeding my baby, who I have been told repeatedly is the best hope for the Brotherhood” she flashed a look of defiance at the two men and noticed Hardin grind his teeth,  
          “Then you would do well to address some rumours” Hardin said, looking her over in a way that made her skin crawl, unsure if it was hate or lust that showed in his eyes,  
          “She will do no such thing” Arthur said calmly, authoritively “I will not allow you to interrogate any of my crew, especially the mother of my child”  
          “So you will not allow us to simply ask some questions to… assuage our worry” Hardin asked in a patronising tone,  
          “I will” she spoke for herself, eliciting a shocked and angry look from Maxson that thankfully the other two couldn’t see from their angle at the table, she moved over and pulled out a chair to sit down herself which the two men took as a signal to sit, “I have nothing to hide” she knew it was a lie but they didn’t, clearly Deacon had taught her well,  
          “Is it true that you worked with a synth sympathising organisation named the Railroad?” Lorelai was a little taken aback that Hardin had just jumped in with the worst possible question, she looked at Maxson pointedly before smiling and turning back to the two men,  
          “That is true, they helped me get into the Institute in the first place but that is where my dealings with them ended” she answered him confidently, wondering how he knew,  
          “And is it true that your son was the director of the Institute?”  
          “My son was taken from me a long time ago in the vault when I was frozen and helpless, the man who ran the Institute may have been blood but he was no son of mine”  
          “What is to say that this child will not turn out the same?”  
          “What is to say anyones child won’t turn into a monster? There are no guarantees when raising a child but Edward has parents who are loving, strong, brave and intelligent and a whole army to keep him from harm's way and that is all I can offer him” Hardin looked annoyed by this answer but just a little defeated too and Lorelai allowed herself a moment of satisfaction at that little victory,  
          “Some say you had a previous relationship with the abomination that called itself Danse, it is suggested that it may have been… carnal… in nature, how can you guarantee that the boy isn’t it’s son?”  
          “For one thing Synths are unable to reproduce, for another just one look at Edward will tell you he is the spitting image of his father. I was friends with Danse and still would be despite him being a synth, I agree wholeheartedly that destroying the Institute was necessary but I do not think that synths themselves pose any threat and therefore should be left to live in peace” this was met with expected looks of shock,  
          “You cannot mean to let her talk like that Elder Maxson?” The other man, the frail one said turning an angry face towards Arthur, though there was an almost amused spark in his old eyes,  
          “I do not give orders for how she may think… I tried once, it didn’t work”  
          “You would take such an insubordinate woman as your wife Maxson?” Clearly the subtle attempt at humour didn’t work on Hardin, though the other man did smile,  
          “Yes and I happen to think that is a good thing, after all who would advise me if those closest to me only did as I say?” Lorelai turned in her seat to see that Arthur was smiling down at her when he said this,  
          “She will not be your advisor” Hardin said with a distinctly tantrum like air,  
          “I would be happy to take advice from such a beautiful and undoubtedly intelligent woman” the other man said, it seemed she had won him over, but not Hardin,  
          “Elder Hardin, sir, I know you do not approve of me and that my views must be scandalous but I would never insist that Arthur act against his conscience. He rarely listens to me anyway” Lorelai said,  
          “Whatever you feel for Elder Maxson is clearly deep but it matters not, the last of the Maxson line needs a woman of good stock who will raise his children in a way that suits the Brotherhood. Not an obstinate woman with old world views that everyone is nice and the world is full of flowers… you my dear will ruin him” Hardin was turning red with anger and really starting to lose his cool, when such an old fashioned and straight laced man resorted to common insults she knew he was out of other, more logical arguments,  
          “First of all I will assume you are referring to Arthur, who is no longer the last of the Maxson line, my son is-”  
          “That remains to be seen” Hardin interrupted her and was rewarded with an angry glare that actually made him shrink back a little, she otherwise ignored him and continued,  
          “I will raise my child as I and Arthur see fit and if that falls in line with the Brotherhood ideals then so be it but I can assure you sir I am more than aware of what life in the wastes is really like, I know that many out there are truly evil but I refuse to accept that you can tell that simply because of the way they were brought into this world or the condition of their skin. When I first woke and crawled out of the vault I killed a deathclaw in power armour I barely knew how to use in order to save a group of strangers. These strangers helped me in return, they have become friends despite the great differences we had and that is what I want for the Brotherhood, for us to be capable of making the first step, to offer help without expecting anything in return and as such make friends with good people”  
          “We are not in the business of making friends”  
          “In world war two each side made allies, if they had not then the other would… if you think only in terms of power sir then think on this: if you do not make friends with powerful people then someone else will and in time you will fall”  
          “Is that a threat?”  
          “No Elder Hardin, it is a statement of fact and I would recommend you do not get too big for your britches as my father would say because the bigger they are the harder they fall” Hardin opened his mouth to say something more but Lorelai simply held up her hand and cut him off “I believe I hear the last of the Maxson line crying for his mother, good night gentlemen” and she swept from the room with every bit of dignity she could muster, which was a lot when she was pretty much on cloud nine after that highly invigorating argument.

  
          As she pulled the door closed behind her she heard a withered and elderly voice say “Well you have certainly picked yourself a fiery one Arthur, she really is something” and smiled to herself as she pushed open the door and pulled her son into her arms.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

          As she had assumed the wedding itself was a formal affair, one she had no say in organising. That morning Lorelai had looked herself over in the mirror, dressed in what could only be described as a robe and a hundred miles from the simple white wedding dress she had worn when marrying Nate. It was hard not to think of her late husband that day and she silently said a goodbye to him, he had been kind and loving despite her being so restless and longing for more but as soon as she saw Arthur stood before her, his lips curled in a contented smile all thoughts of Nate left her mind entirely. There were thousands of people watching them as they finally became man and wife but Lorelai could easily imagine it was just them, for once her mind was empty of the million thoughts her perceptive eyes always filled it with and it was just him, her husband and nothing else.

  
           There were speeches from just about everyone that she had to sit though, very few of them, ok none of them really, were directed at the happy couple instead they all spoke of the might of the Brotherhood and what the union meant to the future of the Brotherhood and how the Brotherhood would prosper for the next thousand years. Lorelai had to stop herself from rolling her eyes when the fifth person used different words to say the same things as the last four people, Arthur squeezed her hand and she looked at the amusement on his face, apparently he was thinking the same thing. The hours passed by, they ate an overly fancy meal that she could barely stomach and eventually the older guests retired and a party of sorts broke out,  
          “Come with me” Arthur whispered into her ear, offering a hand to help her stand and smirking at her confused face “I have a surprise”  
          “I’m not entirely sure I like where this is going” she said, eying him suspiciously,  
          “You will” and he pulled her away and aboard a waiting vertibird where he glared at the pilot as he passed her a dress, it was old world and far cleaner than it had any right to be, rose coloured and when she slipped it on (Arthur had stood in front of her so as to block the pilot's view of her changing) it cinched in with a belt at the waist and accentuated her curves. She felt beautiful and as the vertibird set down near Goodneighbour she had a sneaking suspicion what was about to happen.

          The gates of Goodneighbour opened with their usual creak and Lorelai took in the view around her, it was transformed from the usual grubby street into something almost magical, lights were strung up over every building bathing the place in a cool glow. There was a big table, enough to seat at least 40 people, set in the square and everything looked bright and white and clean. Most importantly the couple were greeted by a resounding cheer and she could easily pick out the faces of her friends, warm with cheer. She could have cried then, the idea that Arthur had done this for her, that somehow she had helped the severe Elder Maxson find it in himself to be so sweet and romantic and accepting warmed her heart.

  
          Deacon was the first to approach, wrapping his arms around her with a sly grin and gruffly shaking Arthur’s hand,  
          “You’re one in a million Lorelai, don’t ever forget that” he whispered into her ear only a second before she was dragged into a motherly hug by Daisy who, from the look on her face would surely have been crying if she could. Nick Valentine, the synth detective from diamond city was there, he said something to her new husband that made him blush, a feat she wouldn’t have thought possible. Hancock was next, wrapping her in a big bear hug and lifting her from the ground before placing her gently back down,  
          “If you ever get tired of the whole big and muscly human thing come look me up doll” she gave the ghoul mayor a playful little smack on the arm for that one, he feigned pain and winked before turning and, to Lorelai’s utter shock, giving Maxson a very manly hug with lots of back slapping and gruff throat clearing.

  
          Finally a tall figure walked through the crowd and she finally did burst into tears when she saw Danse stood there, she hadn’t for one second dared to dream the synth would be there. She looked up at her husband as tears spilled down her face, happy ones for once, and he grinned and held his hand out, gesturing that she should go over to the ex-Paladin which she did without another moment's thought,  
          “Danse” she said, stood awkwardly before him, unsure of exactly what to do,  
          “I’ve missed you Lorelai” he pulled her into a big hug and they stayed together like that for some time, until Arthur finally came up behind them and cleared his throat,  
          “Danse I would be grateful if you would return my wife” she jumped and turned as soon as she was released only to find him grinning and offering a hand to the synth before him,  
          “Thank you for inviting me Arthur, I wouldn’t miss this for the world”  
          “I’m glad you are here Danse… I admit there are few regrets in my life but how I reacted to your news is one of them”  
          “Lets not talk about that now, today should be happy not marred with regrets” the two men hugged and not one of those slightly awkward manly hugs but a true and heartfelt, arms wrapped around each other sort of hug. That’s when she realised she wasn’t the only one who had lost a great friend that day at the bunker, Arthur had too and his intense reaction made all the more sense.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

          There was drinking and there was dancing and everyone wanting to talk to the happy couple and wish them well. Lorelai managed to break away from the crowd and slip off into the old state house, breathing heavily she climbed the stairs and pushed her way out onto the balcony where she sat herself down on the railing. She wasn’t alone for long though, Decon and Hancock found her and sat at either side of her, the spy’s head resting on her shoulder and for some time they sat like that in silence until Hancock broke it,  
          “You did good kid, this place is a lot better for having you wake up in it” she smiled up at him and the silence fell over them again. After a while both Arthur and Danse found them, chatting away like the old friends they were, they fell silent upon seeing the scene and simply joined them. Hancock moved to the side to allow Maxson to sit by Lorelai, his new wife,, she was so happy to be that. When his arm wrapped around her she felt peace, those she loved most may never be together like this again, but right now they were here and like that the friends watched the moon, each lost in happy thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea Yea I'm soppy I know, I just wanted to give them all a happy ending.


	24. Epilouge

          The Vertibird touched down outside of Goodneighbour and Edward jumped out landing heavily on his feet on purpose to make as much noise as he possibly could, his mother raised an eyebrow and the child had the decency to look sheepish. He wasn’t scared of this world like she had been so long ago but Lorelai had made sure he would understand it, he knew the dangers but like any eight year old boy he just didn’t care, it helped that he was usually surrounded by an honour guard of highly trained soldiers. A hand was held out to her and she gladly took the assistance in her current state, she turned to help Georgina down, the six year old was far more like her than Edward, who was much too like his father for her liking. Georgina was quiet and thoughtful where Edward could sometimes be a bully, but that was just what big brothers were for right? A soldier passed her Emily, not quite four the youngest little one (though not for much longer) would toddle about talking to herself happily and mostly ignoring her older siblings until something bad happened, like falling over, at which point she would cry for her big brother and sister and never her mum and dad. Arthur doted on them, sometimes to the point of spoiling them but Lorelai did her best to make sure her children didn’t turn out spoiled, she taught them about the past, about their heritage and her parents, about all the things that would be lost without her memories. Arthur taught them a lot too, from him they got their bravery as well as a deep understanding of those around them, they were good kids really and she was always proud that they were hers.

  
          Pushing open the gate she had to shout to stop Edward from running off, for this little trip she had insisted the usual soldiers protecting them wait with the vertibird and she didn’t want the tempestuous young boy to run off and start bothering the wrong people,  
          “Well what have we here?” Daisy came waltzing out of her store, Lorelai was happy to see the ghoul had barely changed and placed Emily on her wobbly feet to give the ghoul a warm hug “and who are these young things? Lorelai you have been busy”  
          “This is Emily, Georgina and Edward, my little monsters. How are things Daisy?”  
          “Well there’s been a few changes since you left but life goes on… what about this one?” Daisy asked butting a warm hand to her growing belly,  
          “It’s a boy, six months in now apparently we needed an even set”  
          “So no more after this?”  
          “No more, no matter how much Arthur begs…. Edward come here please” the boy had run off into KL-E-O’s store and was staring wide eyed at the female robot. At his mum’s call he turned on his heels and ran back to her, “this is Daisy, she’s one of your mum’s old friends and she helped when you were born”  
          “Nice to meet you Daisy” he said politely with a slight bow,  
          “Now aren’t you a polite young man” he nodded at her and ran off to look at KL-E-O some more, dragging both of his sisters to show them, Daisy turned back to her “I’ll assume he got that from you and not his father?”  
          “There have been some changes there too, he really has figured out how to be a good man since we left” she was proud of how much Arthur had changed, he still had his stoic attitude and that stubborn fire she loved so much but he had taken a good long look at the world and his place in it and made some big changes. These days he was the High Elder, meaning he was in charge of the entire Brotherhood and the first thing he had done was to change a few attitudes and knock some empathy into his troops. Surprisingly to many the change in how civilians were dealt with was accepted with open arms, not so much when it came to ghouls and synths but the troops were slowly coming around. Under High Elder Maxson’s rule a long lasting war between the Brotherhood and the NCR had been brought to a peaceful end that both sides were happy with and now the Brotherhood of Steel was putting all of it’s resources into keeping the new peace that had fallen over the wastes. Some technology was still hoarded, the dangerous kind was usually destroyed (unless it had free will) but they were freer with sharing others. Of course all this came at a price, Arthur was so busy she saw little of him now and part of her longed for the old days where she would fall asleep in his arms almost every night rather than watching him work into the small hours.

  
          Lorelai left Daisy, who returned to her shop and made her way, surrounded by a gaggle of kids, into the Old State House. Inside it was blessedly cool, darkness broken by shafts of light streaming through the boarded up windows and far quieter than she had expected, though she wouldn’t have been surprised had Hancock still been asleep after a late night. The guard at the door told her to head into the office/livingroom/drug den and when she did she was surprised to find her favourite mayor sat quietly with a book in his hand,  
          “What you reading?” she asked, clearly pulling him away from an engrossing part, he lifted his scarred head, still in the same tricorn hat and his face lit up when he saw her,  
          “Lorelai!” he dropped the book in his hasty attempt to jump up so he could embrace her and his eyes went wide as he looked her up and down, “Been busy I see”  
          “Yep, eventually we hope to have a whole army of Maxsons... honestly I've insisted this is the last one” she smiled at him, three nervous children gathered behind her desperately trying to hide behind her legs, it didn’t work and eventually Edward was pushed forward “Hancock, meet Edward”  
          “Wait… this is Pumpkin?” the ghoul mayor crouched down to look the boy in the face and offered his hand smiling, it only took a little encouragement from Lorelai for the boy to shake his hand. She was proud, no matter how many changes in the Brotherhood the children had not spent much time around ghouls though she had been sure they would be introduced to as many different people as possible,  
          “How do you know my nickname?” Edward asked, he had been so excited by KL-E-O outside but now he was shy, though she couldn’t blame him, there always was something about Hancock, some ineffable air of authority,  
          “This is where you were born, Hancock was one of the first people to hold you… so was Daisy who you met outside”  
          “Really?… he’s like a pirate, that’s so cool” Hancock laughed at this and Lorelai explained to him how she had told the tales of things she had known as a child, Edward’s favourite being treasure island. The first born of the proud Maxson line would draw pirates every chance he got and Lorelai had had to remind Arthur that he had been the same with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a child.

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          “Anything dramatic happened while I’ve not been here to supervise?” Lorelai asked, the kids had been settled in a corner, she had chosen not to wonder why Hancock had a big box of toys and colouring books just shook her head with a laugh and sat down, taking the weight off her aching feet,  
          “Sorry to disappoint but life is boring without you” the ghoul said dismissively, handing her a nuka cola,  
          “Oh come on there must be something”  
          “The usual mutant attacks and monotony I’m afraid… have you seen Danse?”  
          “No I wanted to but I don’t know where he or Deeks are right now… I wrote to him in Sanctuary for a while but it’s so hard”  
          “How’d you know where I’d be?” she raised an eyebrow and smirked at him “Ahh come on I’m not that predictable… maybe it’s time I hung up the tricorn”  
          “No John, you do this well you just need a worthy adventure”  
          “True… Danse is at the Castle most of the time, he comes back here occasionally but… I think it reminds him of you so…” he looked a little sheepish for a second, but rallied without too much difficulty “he’s been training new recruits with this angry old woman and he always complains about her but I think he loves it really, she’s a proper old school army type”  
          “Oh god she sounds like the perfect partner for him”  
          “You gonna go see him?”  
          “Yea I will”  
          “Maybe let him know first… he never moved on you know” she felt a pang of guilt, she missed all her friends especially Danse but couldn’t give up her new life,  
          “I will, I’m… well I’m sorry for everything that happened”  
          “Come on sunshine you made the world a better place for so many people, you don’t have to be sorry and I think Danse would say the same thing”  
          “Still…" she sighed, shaking off tears that were prickling at the corners of her eyes "what about Deacon?”  
          “Oh god knows, there was a massive palava back when there were so many synths to find new lives for but then they all just vanished, I think he might have headed out west… he did mention something about Vegas”  
          “That’s a shame… maybe I can go find him, we have, or at least the Brotherhood has, a base up there after the war with the NCR finished so I could probably persuade my grump of a husband to go out there”  
          “You should… I wouldn’t mind Vegas myself, perfect place for a bit of a hedonist like myself” they both laughed at this, it was easy to picture Hancock being part of the nightlife of New Vegas and Lorelai could remember what it had been like before the war, he would have fit in back then too. The pair talked into the night, the kids eventually started to fall asleep and Hancock happily provided them with bedrolls when they fell asleep right there on the floor, Lorelai was a bit jealous of their ability to sleep anywhere. It was nice, catching up with her old friend and hearing about what everyone had been doing but she wasn’t part of it anymore and suddenly she realised she had lived many lives in her short (or long depending on how you look at it) time on this earth. She wouldn’t trade any of them for the world though, no matter how much pain they brought her and when she eventually drifted off to sleep with her head on Hancock’s shoulder she felt happy, really genuinely content.


End file.
